Riddle's Son
by AoMorigirl
Summary: What would have happened if Voldemort took Harry instead of trying to kill him? And then what would happen, if, a year later, some one left another baby on his doorstep? What will happen when they enter school, and will Harry be dark?
1. Prologue

Title: Riddle

Rating: PG, will be updated, I know there will betorture later on.

Pairings: Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy/OC

Warnings: OOC, AU, Torture later in story, OC, warnings will be updated as story progresses.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, just twist it.

Prologue part 1: The Children

Lord Voldemort walked out of the house in Godric's Hollow carrying a little bundle in a blue blanket.

'What am I thinking?' he thought to himself, apparating away from the wreckage of what used to be the Potter's home as neighbors began to come out of their houses in curiosity. 'I'm really willing to disappear from the world? Leave all my groveling Death Eaters?' He snorted uncharacteristically at the image of his followers kissing the hem of his robes. The he looked down at the bundle in his arms, using one hand to toss items into several trunks, shrinking them and moving on to the next in a flurry of activity. And he remembered what had fascinated him about the child.

The boy had just looked at him , and been unafraid of the wizard who had his wand trained on him, and had killed his parents.

In the blanket against his chest, Voldemort felt the little boy wriggle in his sleep. He was leaving so he could train this boy without the fear that one of his followers would kill him to clear the way for someone else to be the Dark Lord's heir. Voldemort grinned. And when he had the boy fully trained, he would win against that old fool; Albus Dumbledore.

Shrinking the last trunk, full of the other trunks containing all of his possessions and tucking it into his robes pocket, Voldemort disapparated.

--

Voldemort walked through the empty house, surveying the rooms with his now chocolate brown eyes.

"Three bedrooms, three baths, living room, kitchen, an office area, formal dining room, library, and washer and dryer in the basement. There's plenty of storage area in the attic, and the back yard has plenty of room for kids. We haven't had any offers yet. You'd love this place, Mr. Riddle." The real-estate agent prattled on about the old house, and various minute details, such at the banister, and where they were carved.

Tuning her out, he focused on Harry, sitting up in his arms. The little boy laughed, and grabbed a lock of the Dark Lord's dark brown hair. His chocolate eyes sparkled.

"Yes, this place will be wonderful."

--

Voldemort had taken everything he owned, everything in his and Harry's vaults, and changed his name. He didn't expect the old coot to actually look for anyone with the name of 'Riddle'.

Voldemort was now Marcus Riddle, living with his son, Harry Riddle, and a large house on the edge of town.

It was several days past Halloween, but the decorations were still up, and 'Marcus', had a hard time containing the urge to hex the sugar hyper children who kept knocking over the displays in the muggle bookstore where he worked. It had been a year since he and Harry had moved in, and he was making efforts to fill the library with muggle and magical texts. He had discovered several muggle authors that wrote decent stories, although he would never admit it.

Marcus had finished feeding Harry dinner, and cleaned up the corresponding mess of spaghetti sauce and noodles by hand. If he used his wand the ministry would be down on him faster than he could sneeze. Now, he picked up the boy, and began to march in the direction of the stairs.

Within the first week of living there and job hunting, Marcus had been cornered by the community's stay at home moms, who offered to baby-sit while he was at work, and had made a 'club' that took walks every Saturday afternoon with their young children. They had forced him to join, and most days, Harry was watched by a neighbor, but on others the owner of the book store allowed him to bring the kid to work.

The doorbell rang. Harry giggled. Marcus groaned.

'If it's another overly helpful neighbor, I'm gonna kill someone the muggle way. _With my hands_.' Marcus mentally snarled.

When he opened the door he was met by an empty porch. About to shut the door, he looked down, and his stomach dropped as he looked at a tiny bundle lying on the doormat.

Balancing Harry on one hip, he bent down, and expertly scooped up the bundle. Looking closer, he saw a thick letter tucked into the blankets, obscuring the face of the baby. Turning back to his house, Marcus kicked the front door shut with his foot, heading back into the kitchen.

Again he cursed the ministry for not being able to use his wand, and made a mental note to go get a new one in the near future. Placing Harry in his high chair, Marcus sat down at the small wooden kitchen table, Removing the letter from the tangle of blanket.

Harry looked at him, confused.

"No bed?" His two year old voice was confused. Marcus smiled at the boy everyone believed was his son.

"Not now. I have to see who this new person is first. Be a good boy and wait a bit."

The little boy nodded, watching his father with big green eyes.

Marcus cradled the bundle against his chest and slowly undid the blankets.

'It can't be more than a week old!' he thought in despair as he watched the red face, and took in the umbilical cord still attached to its navel. The face wrinkled, and opened green and amber eyes, looking at his in interest. Opening the envelope neatly, he pulled out several sheets of paper. A letter, a birth certificate (which he noticed had him listed as the father), and a certificate that given a brief glance, gave him full custody of the child. Setting the papers down, he picked up the letter.

_Please,_

_I would like you to look after my daughter. She was born on Halloween at 10pm. I am positive that you will provide her with a good life, Mr. Riddle At least a better existence than she would have with my pack and I. Her name is Tatiana. All you need to make her legally yours is in the envelope. Thank You._

There was no signature at the bottom of the letter. The words 'my pack' never left his mind. Grumbling about rude people he should hex into the next century, he looked at the other papers closer, gently bouncing the baby in his arm as she fell asleep.

"Well, meet your new sister." he said, resigned to his fate of raising two children as a single parent.

Harry clapped his hands excitedly as Marcus sighed. More nights to sit up with an upset child. He'd be lucky not to loose his sanity.

That night, Marcus tried to remember when it was that werewolves first had their transformation if they were born with the ability.

'I can suppress it until she's eleven, if the changes start when she's five, without causing her any harm. Natural werewolves only change when young if around other wolves, so five should be right. I'll have to get Fenrir when it comes down to it, ad _then_ we can try to find her parents.' He thought grimly, before going to prepare a bottle for the baby he was sure would soon wake up and make enough noise to raise the dead.

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sorry for the name change. I also apologize for focusing on Tatiana, but after Halloween of her first year, it focuses on Harry and Blaise and Marcus, so never fear! I just need to set up her character. I have a friend giving me ideas too. If I were JK Rowling, I would be very rich, and this would be published in book form, not online.

Chapter 1: Diagon Alley

Marcus kept a tight hold on Harry's hand as the five year old tried to walk away from him for the sixth time, while the three year old clinging to his chest tightened her grip on him. They had almost made it to Ollivanders through the crowd, except for one time when a red head teenaged boy had nearly flattened the dark haired girl in his arms. After that, he had had to pick the frightened girl up. The three dark haired family members entered Ollivanders, the sounds from the busy street muffled as the door shut behind them.

Harry instinctively got quiet. Over the years, Marcus had carefully drilled into both of his children's heads when to be quiet, when to run, and when to fight. Although they ran off sometimes, they knew when it was really important. Once, they had run into a ministry worker, who had asked Marcus why he didn't have his wand, and Harry had started sobbing, saying that he was sorry he had 'broken daddy's stick. The wizard had been so embarrassed, having expected to encounter a dark wizard avoiding capture, that he had apologized, and practically ran away. He would have laughed then, if he hadn't been focused on making both of the crying children calm enough to tell them they had done very well, and weren't in trouble. Now, in the dusty shop, both children grew still, and looked around. Ollivander stepped forward through the shelves of wands, his old face turned up in a big smile.

"Ah. And what may I do for you, Mr. Riddle?" He hated that knowing gleam in the old man's eye.

"Well, my wand broke. I need another one. I was wondering if you could help me with that."

"Ollivander smiled at him, and went about measuring Marcus. Walking back to the shelves, he left the spelled measuring tape to take down Marcus's measurements. As he muttered to himself, Ollivander walked back to the many shelves and began pulling wands off of them.

Thirteen wands later, Marcus walked back into Diagon Alley, a 12 1/2 inch mahogany, dragon scale core wand in his pocket, a child's hand in each of his.

Harry looked up at him.

"Dad, that store was weird."

"In what way?" Marcus wondered if the boy's instincts were improving, he himself had gotten an odd feeling from the old wand maker.

"It seemed like he knew us. It felt funny in that store, like he had been expecting us to come." Harry shivered, and Tatiana let go of Marcus's hand to hug her brother.

"Der, Der, Harry. It was just to Daddy." She raised her bright eyes to Marcus's face. "It was right after he used the measuring tape, right Daddy?"

Marcus smiled down at her, hiding his fear. He may have changed most of his features when he went into hiding, but he had been unable to change his measurements, and he was sure that Ollivander had recognized him.

"I'm sure he was just remembering someone else. Harry, Ana, how about we stop at Fortescue's and get some ice cream. They have great sundae's, I've heard." Both children cheered, and Ana grabbed Marcus's hand again as they set off for the ice cream store. They were almost to the shop when a little boy ran into Ana, knocking her to the ground. She caught herself on her right hand, and the boy landed beside her.

Telling himself to not _crucio_ the crying child (it was, after all an Unforgivable, and the normal man he was pretending to be should not know how to do illegal spells), he gripped Harry's hand tighter. His son looked angry, and if not for the restraining hand holding him beside his father's side, would have moved in to punish the one who made his sister fall and injure herself. Marcus was about to step forward to assure himself that his daughter was okay when she got up, and with her uninjured left hand stroked his white-blonde hair.

"It's okay. Where did you hurt yourself?" She smiled at him, and the boy's silver eyes looked back at her.

"I-I'm not hurt, it's just the other boy looked like he wanted to hurt me, and," he sniffed, "and I can't find my father. He was with me in Flourish and Blotts, then disappeared." He looked as if he were about to cry again. Fed up with the crying, Marcus ignored the glare that Ana was aiming at her brother for upsetting the other boy, and bent over slightly.

"What is your name, child?" He kept his voice even, but Harry looked at him out of the corner of his eye, old enough to recognize the slightly strained note in his father's voice.

"Draco Malfoy, and you?" the little boy pulled himself together surprisingly well, and extended a hand to Marcus with a formality that had obviously been drilled into him.

"Marcus Riddle. These are my children, Harry and Tatiana, called Ana. A pleasure to meet you." Both solemnly shook hands. Then Ana clasped his hand in her smaller one.

"Let's look for your father," she said, her voice full of determination. Marcus had a feeling this would be a bad idea. He feared meeting one of his former Death Eaters. But he couldn't help it. With a sigh, he followed his children, and the young Malfoy, hoping that Lucius wouldn't recognize him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Half an hour and six shops later, they were standing in front of a potions supply store, surveying the crowded streets of early summer shoppers.

"Maybe we should go to Fortescue's and sit outside so your father can find us," grumbled Marcus. No matter whom he had to hex, no one was going to keep him from having his ice cream. He had been outside the wizarding community for four years, and by gosh, he was gonna get him some wizarding ice cream! He was tired of the muggle junk. As they turned down the street, he mused on his problem; why did Lucius have to be so hard to find? "We can keep an eye out, and if he passes, we can call out to-"

"Draco! What are you doing? I've been searching for you." Lucius, his white-blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail strode up to them, a sneer upon his face. "Who is this?" His grey eyes narrowed at Ana's hand holding tight onto her new friend, stiff with terror of the imposing figure before her. His eyes traveled over the three Riddle's clothes, muggle in nature, and his sneer increased.

"Found some muggle lovers have you?" At the tone in his father's voice, Draco shrank back a little, and clutched Ana's hand tighter. Harry also felt himself liking the boy despite the earlier collision with his sister (he mentally reminded himself to remind his Dad to look at Ana's hand), and stepped forward slightly, bright green eyes looking straight at the elder Malfoy.

Deciding that he had had enough of the glaring, Marcus stepped forward, extending a hand.

"My name is Marcus Riddle. Your son knocked my daughter over. We were helping him look for you. Perhaps it would be best if we went some where and got something to eat?" Finishing his offer, Marcus allowed his eyes to turn red, and bore into Lucius's for a moment, before restoring his glamour.

Recognizing the eyes Lucius gulped, his haughty look disappearing. However, he quickly regained his composure, nodding.

"Yes. How about you come with me to my home? I'm sure the house elves would be glad to cook for you."

"Actually, we were on our way to get some ice cream. But if you'd like, we can go there afterwards. I'm afraid we don't have any house elves, and it wouldn't be very pleasant at the moment, I haven't found the time to clean in the past week because I've been working a double shift at the book store where I work." Smiling pleasantly, Marcus gestured for the other man to follow him, and started off for the ice cream shop, three cheering children right behind him.

Pushing down the horror he felt at the thought of his lord doing house work, and having a _job_, at a _muggle_ book store no less, Lucius hurried to follow, wondering what had caused so great a change in his master, and where in the world he had gotten two children from. Children didn't just appear on your doorstep or anything, right?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Soon, they were entering the front hall of Malfoy Manor. As soon as the heavy doors had shut Lucius turned to Marcus, and fell to his knees, head bowed.

"My Lord, forgive my earlier impudence, I did not recognize you."

"That is alright, Lucius. You are still loyal to me, are you not?" His voice was cold; almost a hiss, and he felt a pang of guilt as the children cowered away from him and Lucius. Pushing the bothersome emotion aside, Marcus focused on what Lucius was saying to him.

"Yes, My Lord. Despite the whispers of your disappearance I believed that you would return one day."

"As you can see, I am very much alive."

"Forgive me, My Lord," Lucius pause, risking a glance at Harry, "but isn't that the Potter boy you were supposed to have-"

"That's none of your concern Lucius!" spat the Dark Lord, ending the conversation. They were silent for a moment.

They were about to continue when Marcus looked over at Harry, Draco, and Ana. He could see that the girl had one hand slightly behind her back, hiding it behind her jeans. Suddenly he remembered when Draco had run into her. He hadn't seen too much blood, so it couldn't be too bad, but she never admitted it when she was hurt. Mentally kicking himself for forgetting his charge, Marcus took a step toward the three clustered children. Harry and Draco took a step forward, bravely placing themselves between him and their younger friend. Lucius frowned at his son.

"Draco, what do you think-" Marcus held up a hand, ending Lucius's question.

"Do you two fear me?" His voice was soft and dangerous. Both boys nodded slightly. "And why's that?"

"You look angry," Harry's eyes shone with unease, "and you were using your scary voice. I know you wouldn't knowingly hurt sis, but you could do that accidental stuff." Not for the first time Marcus berated himself for getting angry and used accidental magic to make a pumpkin explode. Ana wasn't scared of him, but Harry was still wary of his father's temper. Marcus calmed, and smiled softly at his son.

"I am merely concerned about your sister. She fell, and I have not had a chance to properly assess if she hurt herself after it." Harry looked at his father calmly for a moment before pulling Draco out of the way.

Smiling at the straight-faced girl, Marcus knelt in front of her.

"Ana, where are you hurt?" He slipped back into his father role, shedding the Dark Lord mask with ease.

"Nowhere, Daddy. Not hurt, see?" she held out her uninjured hand for him to inspect.

"Yeas you are. Now," he made his face serious, "let me see your _other_ hand."

Dejectedly, she held out her left hand. As always when she was hurt, Marcus wondered why she hadn't been crying. The offered hand had dried blood on the palm, and although it was already healing, showing the first traces of the creature blood he had become positive she possessed by this time, it was quite obvious that it still caused her some pain. As he shifted her hand, one of the scabs pulled open and a bit of blood oozed to the surface. Lucius had come over while Marcus was convincing her to let him see the hand, and now hissed in shock.

"How did she get that?" His voice was hesitant, as if fearing the answer.

"When your son ran into her." Lucius paled at the answer.

"I-I'm sure it was an accident."

"Of course it was an accident, he was upset." Mumbled Marcus, still holding onto the injured hand, fishing for his new wand in his robes with his free hand. _'Otherwise that brat of a boy would be so hoarse from screaming under the cruciatus curse that he would be coughing up blood for a week!'_ he added in his head. Finding his wand, he lowered the tip to the wound, murmuring a cleaning spell, then a quick healing spell.

Harry and Ana watched as the skin healed with fascination. They didn't ask how he had done it, he had told them wizarding stories, and tales about his school years, along with stories of when he had led the Death Eaters, so they knew about the wizarding world, but they had never seen him do any magic other than accidental magic around them. Harry had accidentally levitated a cookie off the kitchen table a few weeks before, and Marcus felt a swell of pride similar to the one he had felt then, knowing Harry would be able to do magic soon.

"Want to see my room?" Draco grinned at his two new friends. The two children nodded excitedly, and all three dashed off. They had only been gone a few moments when there was a muffled crash, and laughter, which quickly faded, along with their footsteps, Lucius made a strangled noise and complained lightly.

"But, the furniture..."

"They will only be children once, Lucius. Let them forget rules and decorum for a while; gods know I will expect them to behave themselves properly once they enter school. How old is Draco now, six? Harry will be six next month, and Ana will be four in October." A dreamy look came over his face, with a slightly sad edge. "They've grown up so fast."

"Yes, My Lord. His birthday was in December, I am honored you remembered." He glanced down the halls after the children anxiously.

"Don't worry, if any of them get separated Ana or Harry will find them, they have an uncanny ability of finding each other, as well as others. Hide and seek lost its mystery after a while, as they found whoever was hiding immediately. And Lucius," he smirked at the blonde man, "if we are to be friends in public you must call me Marcus, and it will be better if you get used to it while we are in private, so unless I lower the glamour in private, I would request that you call me Marcus, please." Lucius felt a slight chill creep up his spine, but shook it off.

"Well then my... Marcus, may I offer you a drink?" he gestured to a door down the hall.

"Why yes, that would be lovely," replied Marcus, his face blank as they entered the sitting room. Lucius took a seat in a large cream-colored armchair, calling a house elf to them.

"What would you like?"

"Firewhisky, it has been too long since I indulged in wizard spirits." The elf, hearing Marcus's order, disappeared with a pop, leaving them to talk about what had happened in the past few years in both the muggle and wizarding worlds.

In Draco's room, Ana was entertaining herself with a conversation with a talking mirror hanging in Draco's bathroom while sitting on the sink. Draco and Harry were playing with wizarding toys that moved, and all three having a great time. None of them knew, but they would be friends for the rest of their lives.

-------------------------------Five years, one month later--------------------------------------

Harry stared at the letter that had dropped on the floor between him and Draco, then at the owl sitting on the headboard of the bed they sat playing cards on. A moment later, another owl dropped a letter in front of Draco. They grinned, recognizing the seal on the back of the envelope.

"Time to go school shopping."


	3. Chapter 2

Warning and A/N: Language, and I know you can't get in till you're eleven, that's why she's an OC, let me say it again, OC, I came up with her a while back, and the fic she was in sucked so it will never be posted. I tweaked her personality, gave her a make over, and I give you...Well, we'll see. At least she doesn't go to Azkaban...yet...What do you all think of a Harry/Ginny pairing? I've had a request for it; let me know your thoughts.

Gets whacked upside head by Nee-chan

Stick to the plot!

What plot?

You mean you haven't planned it?

Course not, why would I?

Sigh

What?

Nee-chan walks away...

What?

Disclaimer: I am only an insane person in a sane world, or maybe that was the other way around...Who knows? Anyway, I don't own this, wish I did, but I don't. Evil clown hysterical laugh I can't shake that habit, the haunted house I was in was bad for my nerves, I laughed for too long, now it just pops out...hysterical, cackling, evil clown laughter There it goes again...

Chapter 2

"Bye Dad!" Harry hugged his father once more before turning to Lucius Malfoy. "We'll see you soon!"

Lucius looked on the display of open emotion with slight scorn, that is, until his own son hugged him farewell.

"Now Harry, don't forget all that I've taught you." Murmured Marcus before they parted. "We'll see you for Christmas." Standing next to him, eight-year-old Tatiana nodded, looking sad. She would miss her brother and her best friend. The train whistle blew, and Draco grabbed Harry's arm, dragging him from his family with a cheery wave and discreet incline of his head to Marcus. They had only been informed of Marcus's identity of the Dark Lord Voldemort several weeks prior, and Draco had tried to be as respectful as he could, remembering all the pranks he had pulled on Marcus in the past. They weren't allowed to say anything, and Draco was still told to call Marcus by his name, because Tatiana didn't know, and Marcus was reluctant to tell her. She was only eight, after all.

"Come on! Let's head to our compartment." They reached the compartment that they had chosen and put their trunks in before they said goodbye. Harry sat down, and looked out the window toward where his father and sister stood. As he watched, the train started moving, and Tatiana pulled away from Marcus, breaking his grip on her arm, dashing after the train, holding a small, black wrapped box aloft. Curious, Harry pushed the window open and stuck his hand out in time to catch it as she threw it at him. He pulled it in and stuck his head out to hear her yell,

"Make sure to write!" Before their father scooped her into his arms, and the train turned a corner, blocking them from his sight. Harry pulled his head inside and shut the window with a quiet snap.

"What did she give you?" asked Draco eagerly. Harry looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't know yet."

"Well then, open it!" cried his friend, leaning back in his seat, arms folded across his chest, scowl in place. Harry smiled, green eyes sparkling.

"That face doesn't fool me. I know you're just a softy, Draco."

"Yeah, a softy that's gonna hex you if you don't open that box soon." Draco growled back. Smirking, Harry opened the box, undoing the strings around it painfully slowly. The paper tied around it fell away. Harry knew that Tatiana couldn't tie something this well, so whatever it was, their father knew what it was. On the top of the box lay a letter in Tatiana's childish writing.

'_The silver necklace is for Draco, the gold one is for Harry, the copper one is for Blaise because I knew Harry would want one for him too, I have the black one, and Daddy has bronze. Daddy helped me make them. They'll let us talk to one another even when you're at Hogwarts! As long as you have it turned 'on' you should be able to talk to whoever you are directing your thought to in their mind. I hope you'll use them. They have a monitoring spell on them. If someone is injured and conscious they will be a bit warm. If someone is hurt and unconscious, the necklaces will get really hot. But if someone is in impending danger, the necklaces will get cold. Now, find Blaise and put them on. Daddy won't hear any of us unless we direct our thoughts specifically at him. Love you all!_

_Love, _

_Ana'_

The boys grinned and opened the box. Inside the box sat three necklaces. The design was the same in each. A dragon with its head lifted up, mouth slightly open, with a hole in the middle of the teeth where the chain slipped through, wings slightly spread, the tail twisting in circles, and the claws hanging down. Harry had seen something like this before; it was a dragon taking off into the air. One of the necklaces was silver, with a silver chain and sapphire eyes, the second glittering gold with golden chain and ruby eyes, and the third was copper, with a copper chain, and inset emerald eyes.

"Bloody Gryffindor colors, she just had to do that, but the detail is amazing, there are little scales and everything." Draco said, gesturing to the golden dragon Harry was holding.

"I don't know, the eyes kind of remind me of what Dad's eyes look like when he isn't wearing those muggle contacts." Harry said, examining Blaise's dragon pendant and wondering why his sister had given it emerald eyes.

"Why does he wear those things anyways? He hates muggles, right?" Draco was studying his own dragon, stroking it slightly on the wings.

"Well, they don't disappear when he gets a _Finite Incantatem_ thrown at him. That way he doesn't get exposed if one of us sends a misaimed spell at him. Make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess." Draco looked at Harry and grinned. "Want to put them on?"

"On the count of three."

"One…Two…Three!" Both boys slipped the necklaces over their heads and held their breath for a moment.

"Harry? Nothing's happening." Draco frowned. "Think she messed it up?"

"Nah. We probably just need to direct our thoughts in the right direction or something like that. You know how she likes to mess with us."

"Yeah. Lets put the under our shirts. We can give Blaise his when we get to Hogwarts." Draco and Harry put their pendants under their shirts just as someone pushed the compartment door open. A boy with bright red hair stuck his head in. Harry recognized the freckles and red hair as that of a Weasley.

"Hi. Can I sit in here? My brothers kicked me out of their compartment."

Harry smiled at the boy, remembering his father's lessons. One of the lessons he had been taught since he was old enough to know that he would be going to Hogwarts, was to get as many of the students to like him as possible, especially the brave Gryffindors, and the loyal Hufflepuffs.

"Sure, we've got plenty of room. What's your name?"

"Ron. Ron Weasley. And you both?" Ron sat across from the two of them, clutching a rat to his chest.

"I'm Harry Riddle, and this is my friend, Draco Malfoy," he said, gesturing to Draco, then smiling curiously and asking, "what's your rat's name?"

"Scabbers. He used to belong to my brother Percy." Ron smiled back at Harry pleasantly. Draco seemed slightly uncomfortable, and, as the first use of the necklaces, directed a thought at Harry.

'_Harry, a Weasley? Come on.'_ Even in Harry's head, the voice sounded whinny.

'_We need as many people on our side as possible. The Weasley family will be a powerful ally. Lots of possible soldiers. Besides-'_ Someone knocked on the compartment door. Mentally, Harry groaned.

"Come in!" he called in a falsely cheerful voice.

'_No hexing anyone, Riddle. Even if the Ministry can't detect it, someone will report it, you know.'_ Draco reminded Harry in a singsong voice through the necklaces.

The door opened, admitting three boys; Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. Ron's face paled drastically, and Harry immediately tried to come up with something reassuring to say to the boy, but Draco beat him to it.

"Ron, these fellows are Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. However, you can call Crabbe and Goyle, Vincent and Gregory. Do you mind if they sit with us?" Draco made an effort, and smiled at Ron who started to look a little less pale, and smiled back shakily.

"Th-that's alright. It's a pleasure to meet you all. "

"And you." Blaise replied, inclining his head slightly.

Ron nodded back.

Harry smirked. Blaise, Vincent, and Gregory knew who he was, and his goals for going to Hogwarts, and he trusted them to comply with his plans.

The group was chatting fairly pleasantly when the door opened, and a girl with bushy hair stuck her head in.

"Happen to see a toad around here? A boy has lost one," she asked. Ron frowned and shook his head.

"No."

"Hey, Neville!" she shouted over her shoulder, "not here either!" She was turning around to leave when she glanced back at the occupants of the cabin. "Better get your robes on, we're getting close, and you don't want to be late getting off the train." With that, she disappeared into the corridor.

The train came to a stop, slowing gradually. When the train stopped, they filed out onto the platform, all of the students milling about. The first years all followed a large man down a winding path, through the dark, till they reached some boats floating on the dark lake. After the lake, they were led through a set of doors, into a hall, outside another set of double doors. A woman with a Scottish accent, and her hair pulled back in a tight bun, gave them a lecture about 'your house is your family, blah-de-blah, blah, blah…' Harry tuned her out, and contented himself with staring at the back of Blaise's head. Draco stood slightly behind him, Ron was at his side, and Vincent and Gregory were standing behind them all. Harry smiled at the nervous Ron as the doors were opened, and they were allowed into the Great Hall.

They walked between two long tables, toward a long table that sat perpendicular to the other four tables in the hall, with a man with a white beard sitting in the center of it, bright blue eyes twinkling.

'_That man makes me nervous, Draco.'_ Harry said through the necklaces. Draco made no response, but Harry could hear him snort ahead of him in the line. The students were all called up one at a time, and an old hat was put on their heads, sorting them all into their houses. Into Slytherin went Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco, and into Gryffindor went the bushy haired girl, Granger, or something, and a boy named Neville. Finally, Harry was called up. After all of the 'P' names were called, he had seen a confused look cross the old man's face, and Harry had snorted. Apparently the old man was expecting someone who hadn't been able to make it to the sorting ceremony.

"Riddle, Harry." The woman with the bun, Professor McGonagall, called. Harry stepped forward, and sat on the stool. A voice whispered into his ear.

'A. Riddle, is it? I wont tell, Harry. You are most definitely brave, a strong Gryffindor trait. But you are also cunning, and willing to do anything for your father and sister, and almost, but not quite willing to stick your neck out for your friends. A little self-serving. What would you be like if you hadn't been raised to be a Dark Lord's successor? Well, it's Gryffindor…or…'

"Slytherin!" Harry stood up, and walked toward where he knew the Slytherin table was from watching his other friends go that way. Smiling, Harry looked up at the head table briefly, and his eyes were drawn to the sparkling blue eyes of the headmaster. Averting his own green eyes, Harry muttered in his mind,

'_Damn twinkle.'_

'_Who?'_ asked Draco, innocently, never taking his eyes from where Ron was being sorted into Gryffindor.

'_The Headmaster. His eyes twinkle too much.'_ Draco looked at the head table briefly, then looked back, and nodded at Harry, silently snickering.

'_Shall we make his life hell, Harry?'_

'_You mean make him think he's going crazy, or playing pranks on him till he's paranoid?'_

'_Precisely.'_

'_I knew I liked you.'_ Across the table, Draco grinned.

'_What ever made you doubt it?'_

'_Ha ha.' _They stopped talking in their minds as Blaise joined them at the table. His eyes sought o0ut Harry's, and they both smiled.

It was five in the morning, and the Slytherin first year boys' dorm was silent as they all slept soundly, breathing deeply. Harry, Blaise, and Draco had planned to get up at 5:30, because Harry thought that Tatiana would wake up at about 6 o'clock to try and beat them. They were smart enough to know the girl would know what they were up to, but no one anticipated on her anticipating this. Years of living with her brother had taught her well. So it was at this time that a voice echoed within three boys' minds.

'_GET UP!!!!!'_ The sound of three undignified shrieks, followed by two distinct thumps, and a crash were heard throughout the room. Everyone in the room was awake at that point, but seeing the three boys on the ground groaning, nothing wrong, the other occupants of the dorm room promptly went back to sleep. Harry had been on the edge of his bed and fallen onto his nightstand, knocking it over, while Blaise and Draco had only rolled off their beds. Laughter reverberated in their sleep-muddled heads. _'I wish I could see your faces!' _At his sister's words, Harry growled, and pulled himself off the floor, righting the table as he did so.

'_What the bloody hell are you doing out of bed at this time? Aren't you supposed to be the kid who can sleep through anything?'_ Blaise and Draco both grumbled similar comments at the little girl cackling in their heads.

'_I thought you might want to be awake early on your first day. Plus, I know you were going to do it to me.'_

'_How would you know? It's not like we told you or anything.'_ Draco mumbled, climbing back into his bed and pulling the covers over his head in a pathetic attempt to get back to sleep.

'_Draco. I'm eight, not stupid. Give me more credit than that.'_

'_Ana, don't you have to go with Dad to work today?'_ Harry asked grumpily, realizing that he would not be able to get back to sleep now that he was this awake. Blaise apparently had a similar thought, because Harry could see him moving about his bed pulling out his shower stuff.

'_Yeah, I have to go today, and every day that Draco's mom and Dad don't want me over. Dad's considering letting me hang out at Blaise or Greg or Vince's too, so no one gets stuck with me too much while he works.'_

'_Sounds like he's working more than usual.'_ Harry replied, imitating Blaise and grabbing his shower stuff. Draco was already asleep again, and Harry wondered how he did it. Neither Blaise nor Draco could hear them now, and so Harry continued to talk to his sister on the way to the showers.

'_Yeah, without all of us around, he's working more. I think he wants the owner to name him the next owner because the old man's retiring.'_

'_That'd be cool.'_

'_Yeah.'_

'_I gotta go now, Ana.'_

'_Why?'_ Her voice took on a plaintive whine that made Harry wonder if she was at all mature.

'_I'm going to shower.'_

'_Oh. By the way,'_ Harry could tell she was talking to all of them at this point, _'Dad's making steak and potatoes tonight.'_ Suddenly Draco was wide awake, and Harry could actually feel his annoyance through the link.

'_Without us? But you know we all love your Dad's steak!'_

'_I know. He asked me what I wanted to eat tonight to celebrate being an only child for a while, and I asked for steak.'_

'_Will he make it for us when we get back at Christmas?'_ Draco was pleading with her. Everyone loved Marcus's cooking; he always made the best food, which resulted on all of Harry and Ana's friends spending a lot of meals there.

'_Maybe if you ask nicely, but I can't guarantee it. We're probably eating at your house.'_ Ana pulled herself away from the connection, but Harry and Blaise both started laughing as they stepped into their stalls, and heard Draco's mental and verbal cry of despair.

'_Nnnnnnnnoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!'_

Lunch was excellent, and Harry was hungry. Their morning had started off with Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, Charms with Ravenclaw, and then Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Harry and his friends found that they did very well because pf the extra training they had received before they had come because of their positions around Marcus. Harry found it hard to hold back with his classes, especially when the spells were as simple as _Wingardium Leviosa._ He found it very tempting to show off, but had to hold back. He would hold back for a semester or so, except in potions. He like them, and could always use the excuse of being a good cook. That would explain being able to follow instructions.

He was thankful that his father had taken the ministry tracking charms off of his wand when he had first gotten it. It had a phoenix feather core, but he had a second wand that he kept hidden, back at his home that he would use once he had graduated so Aurors would not be able to tell that he was the one using the spells. It was a good trick.

As they sat at the table, Harry stared into space, chewing slowly on his sandwich as he thought of all the memories he had of the magic his father had done to make him his son, not just legally, but magically, and by blood. Harry had been three, and Ana had been one when their father had performed the ceremony. He could only remember vague pieces, but he knew enough to know that the light scar across his palm was from that. His blood had to be d with his father's for the spell to work. After that, both Ana and he had inherited the Slytherin trait of being able to talk to snakes. Parseltongue. He looked at his palm, and flexed his had slightly, looking at the fine, paper thin scar, before sighing, and going back to his sandwich, mind wandering from that train of thought.

Harry was still not paying attention, which is why, when a hand was placed on his shoulder, he jumped so much his butt lifted off of the bench. Turning around, Harry saw the stern potions master standing behind him.

"The Headmaster would like to see you, Mr. Riddle." Snape's voice was as oily as his hair, and there was a slight sneer upon his lips. Harry nodded. Grabbing an apple, he stood up, and followed his Head of House out of the hall, waving at Ron across the hall as he did so.

'_Draco?'_

'_Yeah?'_

'_The old man might know.'_

'_Why do you think that?'_

'_You __do__ go by __Harry__ and __Riddle__. Not exactly the name to use if you don't want attention.'_

'_My letter said Riddle, not Potter…What do you think he'll do?'_

'_I don't know, play it by ear, you're a great actor!'_

'_Thanks.'_

'_In the words of our new friend Ron: Anytime Mate!'_

Snape stopped outside of a gargoyle statue, and told it 'Lemon drops'. The statue jumped to the side, and Harry followed him up the circular stairs to a wooden door. Snape knocked, and then stepped in.

"I've brought the boy, sir."

"Very well, thank you, Severus. You may leave." A cheery voice came from inside the office. Stepping in, Harry saw many small objects scattered in the room on shelves, and all available surfaces in many shapes and various sizes. Covering all of the walls were paintings of wizards and witches, sleeping in their frames. Sitting in a chair behind a large wooden desk was Albus Dumbledore, his half-moon spectacles sitting on his crooked nose in front of twinkling baby blue eyes. His robes were a dark indigo with silver stars embroidered all over it. He smiled at Harry as Harry stepped towards him.

"Ah, my boy. Please, sit down. I would like to ask you some things I am afraid may be quite personal." The old man spoke like he was a grandfather talking to a grandchild who was to be indulged.

Wary of this man, as he had been taught, Harry sat in a chair across the desk from the man.

"What is it you are going to ask me, sir?" he asked politely.

"I was wondering if perhaps you were adopted. Your adoptive father's name is Tom, perhaps?"

Harry let his eyes go slightly wide in fake surprise.

"My father's name isn't Tom, but how did you know I was adopted?"

"I simply guessed, my boy." The Headmaster's eyes were twinkling madly. "How did your parents come by the opportunity to adopt you?"

"My father found both I and my sister. He's raised us on his own. We've spent most of our time in the muggle world, but we know people in the wizarding world, there aren't many wizards where we live."

"Your sister?" Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up on his forehead. "How old would she be?"

"She's eight. She'll be nine on Halloween, we're two years apart in age."

"Her birthday is Halloween?"

"Yes." Harry was becoming annoyed by the old fool's questions. Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, observing Harry's face carefully.

"Are you Harry Potter?" he asked quietly.

Harry knew the story of how his father had 'come across' him, he had been told when he was nine, and he still loved and trusted his father. Harry recognized the name, but pretended that he didn't, frowning as if puzzled.

"Who sir?" Harry watched as Dumbledore suddenly smiled, the twinkle in his eyes tripling.

"There's a way to find out it you are Harry Potter. Would you mind having a bit of your magic tested through your blood so that we can find out who your parents are?" Harry suddenly had a moment of panic and reached out to his sister's mind.

'_Ana! Is Dad there?'_

'_Yeah, why?'_

'_Ask him if it would be a problem if Dumbledore did a test on me to find out who my parents are.'_ There was a moment of silence after his question before she responded.

'_He says that it wouldn't do any harm. Worst case they find out about him, but he just started chuckling. Anyway, go ahead.'_

'_Thanks Ana.'_ Turning his attention back to Dumbledore Harry leveled as much sincerity in his green eyes as his eleven years would allow.

"That would be fine sir. I don't think my father would mind."

"Wonderful!" Dumbledore exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Let's go to the infirmary now, shall we?" Together they left the office, and began striding towards the infirmary together.

"Excuse me sir, but what about me afternoon classes? I have double potions and then Defense Against the Dark Arts, then Care of Magical Creatures..."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Severus knows that you may be late to class because of our discussion. Now, what was it like for you, growing up? You said that you spend a good deal of your time in the wizarding world, correct? What is your father like, and how does he treat you and your sister?" Harry didn't like the questions, but shrugged and answered anyway.

"It was quite normal growing up. We met Draco when I was five, so he, Blaise, Greg, and Vince have been my friends pretty much since then. Father's pretty tough, he's making my sister and I learn martial arts for self-defense. Has been since I was eight, and Ana and me almost got beat up outside of the bookstore where he works. He's really good to us otherwise. Always seems calm. I went to a muggle school until last year because he said it would be good to understand them. Ana still goes, though."

"A six year old is learning martial arts?" Dumbledore sounded like he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"She's eight."

"Her name is Ana?"

"No, Tatiana, but all of us call her Ana, except for Blaise, he calls her 'Tats'. She's really good at almost everything." Harry could feel his chest swell with pride at his little sister. She wasn't as good as him at most things, but she was still better than most kids her age at controlling her magic. He really was proud of her.

"You sound like a proud older brother."

"Yeah," Harry shrugged, feigning indifference, "but that's cause I am. We get along better than some siblings I know."

"That's wonderful." As Dumbledore spoke they walked into the infirmary. "Poppy!"

Madame Pomfrey stuck her head out of her office.

"Yes, Headmaster? Do you want me to do the test now?"

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind." Harry had realized a while before that Dumbledore had been planning on him doing the test all along, but now he still felt annoyed. Quickly pulling his emotions under control, Harry smiled neutrally at the medi-witch.

A sample of blood, and two hours later Harry was holding an envelope as he sat on a hospital wing bed. Harry stared at the envelope for a long time it seemed. Finally, he heard Blaise's voice in his mind.

'_You know what it'll say. Open it already.'_

'_Yeah, but knowing it is different than actually seeing it in writing, you know?'_

'_Yeah. I'll see you at dinner. I've got to go, the DADA teacher's coming my way.'_ Looking at the envelope now, Harry felt Dumbledore's eyes on him. Harry opened the envelope, and smiled at what the page said.

'_Ana? Tell Dad I love him.'_

'_Okay. Wait! You made me miss what the teacher said! Urgh.'_ Harry couldn't help smiling at his sister's remark. Their Dad may come by for lunch, but when she was in class she got distracted easily. Suddenly, Dumbledore's voice broke into his pleasant musings.

"What does it say, my boy?" asked the Headmaster eagerly. Harry looked at him broadly, and handed him the envelope. Dumbledore's eyes widened marginally. The sheet of paper in the envelope was written in bold ink.

'**Birth Mother: None of your business - deceased**

**Birth Father: None of your business - deceased**

**Current Father: Marcus Riddle**

**Notes: Stay away from my son, old man. Have your test results and be happy.'**

"Apparently my father doesn't want you to know who my parents really are.'

"But, Harry," Dumbledore's eyes were serious, the twinkle almost gone, "doesn't that mean he doesn't want _you_ to know?"

Harry shrugged.

"I don't care, he's still my father, no matter what. He's honest with me, and I'm sure he'd tell me if I asked. He'll tell Ana whom her parents are whenever he finds out. Who do you think he is anyway, the Dark Lord?" Harry walked out of the hospital wing.

Behind him, Dumbledore was still puzzling over what Harry had said.

­­­

Harry met up with Blaise just outside of the front doors on his way to Care of Magical Creatures before dinner.

"Your Dad is awesome." He said in a matter of face way. Harry grinned. On his way down Harry had told him about what the envelope had contained.

"Are you sure there's not another reason why you like him?" he asked slyly.

"Of course, but his cooking is not a factor in my mind at the moment, unlike Draco, who's been drooling at the thought of what he's cooking tonight through the past two classes. Besides, there's also the little fact that he has that other personality only the dumb and brave have seen. Ask me, he's scarier than the guy we call 'Marcus'."

"Why's the other face so scary?"

"He's really protective. You've never noticed?" Harry shook his head. "Trust the object of the emotion to never notice."

"Well your dad's fine, but Draco's father scares me. His mom's all right, but Lucius can creep me out. Same with Snape." Harry paused. "We have to keep an eye on him."

"Snape? Why?" They were getting close to the class, so Blaise lowered his voice.

"He's a double agent. I don't trust him. It's good he doesn't know who Dad is, but still, he tries too hard to seem like a mean-arse Slytherin. There's something up." Blaise considered Harry's words and nodded.

"Alright, I can see that. We'll get everyone who knows to watch him, everyone who can be trusted. Maybe the Bloody Baron or Peeves will help too." They walked up to the class right before the late bell, laughing about how they would convince the poltergeist to help them. Far away in the muggle world, Marcus smiled, and went back to shelving books in the bookstore where he was working as he kept an eye on the front door for when his daughter would come through the door, and he would be able to go home.

A/N: There will be a summary, but there are several years skipped. Don't panic!


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not make any money, and no copyright infringement is intended.

My beta has a few words to say to you all about me...

///AoMori is a dumb bunny. Do you have any idea how many fanfics she is having me edit? WAY TOO FREAKING MANY!!!! FIVE. EFF-AYE-VEE-EE. AT ONE TIME. And she doesn't have the plots thought out. Any of them. I may yet kill her. But hey, I get to read them before y'all, so at least I can spread the annoyance by not editing sometimes… Though then she may well go psycho-teddy on me… Decisions, decisions…///

Chapter 3

The rest of Harry's first year went smoothly, the Slytherins all watched Snape, and he started to get a little paranoid. Fred and George Weasley started talking and hanging out with Harry and his fellow Slytherins out of respect for their accomplishment of getting Peeves to agree to do what they said. Ron Weasley became a friend of Harry's, and found that he enjoyed Draco's sense of sarcastic humor. They sometimes argue, but usually Fred, George, and Blaise can sort it out. Dumbledore watched Harry closely, harboring a slight fear that the Potter boy was being raised by Lord Voldemort.

For Christmas and Spring Break Harry went home, and on Christmas when Marcus brought a roast that he had cooked over to Malfoy Manor for Christmas dinner, Draco hugged him and thanked him profusely. Lucius was slightly afraid his son would be hexed but Marcus only rolled his eyes. During Spring break Ron, Fred, and George all came over to the Riddle house, along with Blaise, Draco, Greg, and Vince for dinner several times, and Marcus started chatting with Molly Weasley, and talking about Muggles with Arthur.

Over the summer, everyone got together often and enjoyed their summer together. Tatiana tagged along a lot, and after a while of knowing her, Fred and George discovered that she was a girl after their own heart.

-flashback-

Fred and George were walking through the house, heading to Harry's room. When they reached his room, they were about to knock when there was the sound of a loud BANG!!!! Both looked at each other and were about to open the door when it was yanked open by Harry, with his entire body colored with gold and scarlet red stripes. His hair was wet, and he had a towel tied around his waist. He tore out of the room, ignoring the dumbstruck Weasleys, and dashed down the hall. He was halfway down the hallway when the door next to Harry's room opened, and Tatiana slipped out of the closet. She giggled and Harry stopped, turning around slowly.

"You brat! What did you do to my shower?!?!" He shouted at her. Again she giggled, and with a growl Harry launched himself down the hall at her. She squealed and took off down the stairs.

"Daddy! Harry's gonna kill meeeee!" Fred and George were laughing so hard they fell to the ground, clutching at each other with tears streaming down their faces.

-end of flashback-

Harry's second year passed with little problems, besides the idiot Gilderoy Lockhart attempting to teach. Harry managed to get Peeves to put a giant bucket of water over the Great Hall doors, so when all of the students left the Great Hall after the welcoming feast, a great number were drenched with icy cold water. Peeves didn't mind being yelled at, he was too happy to have been taught a new trick to play. Until the Christmas break classrooms were periodically booby-trapped, including the headmaster's office. Occasionally the water would be spelled to turn whoever got drenched with the water to turn a certain color. The Gryffindors didn't appreciate the green water.

Fred and George decided that they would give Harry the Marauders map this year for Christmas so that when his sister came to school he would be able to keep an eye on her. Ron and Ginny hung out a great deal with another Gryffindor named Hermione Granger. Hermione gave everyone a hard time, trying to make them follow the rules. What annoyed all of the boys to no end was the crush most of the student body had on Lockhart. During a duel at a 'tournament' the 'blonde dolt' as he was affectionately called by Ron and Draco, the whole school found out that Harry could talk to snakes. His friends stood up for him though, and while he got some funny looks, no one really bothered him.

The holidays went much as they always had, with the exception that the Riddle family went to visit the Weasleys, and vice versa. Those who knew the dark Lord were amazed that their leader did this, but he merely dished out a healthy dose of _Cruciatus_ and told them that it was none of their business what he did with his time and family.

Finally, it was Harry's third year…


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I make no money, I don't own the characters, I'm merely playing with them in my own little world. My friends and I are only doing this in the best of fun. Blame them for the plot changes…

A few words from the beta:

///Three chapters edited. In one day. A day on which I have finals. Bow down and worship me, damnit. And how can plot changes be our fault when THERE WAS NO PLOT TO BEGIN WITH, YOU BAKA, YOU ARE COMPLETELY MAKING IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG. Apologize for the caps lock, muchly stress. Is it normal for someone to have completed a college-level course about two months before their seventeenth birthday? When they have not skipped a grade or anything? Because I did that yesterday…///

Chapter 4

Harry and the rest of the Slytherin table, along with part of the Gryffindor table cheered happily while Tatiana walked over to the Slytherin table. She was smiling happily, and the ten, almost eleven year old girl bounced cheerfully over to sit beside her brother and Greg and Vince, her brother, Draco and Blaise across from her.

"Go Ana!" cried Draco, reaching across the table to give her a high-five. The next girl in the line walked up to be sorted.

"Silvarna, Crystal." Tatiana cheered as the girl with long, dark hair, and skin the color of chocolate sat on the bench under the old hat. She gripped the stool nervously, her knees pressed together nervously. Finally the hat made up its mind.

"Gryffindor!" Tatiana cheered happily as the girl she had met on the train was welcomed to the table by Ron, Fred, and George, who had seen Ana cheering, and took that as a recommendation of the new girl's character.

"Your friends with a Gryffindor." Greg observed. Ana smiled at him pleasantly.

"Yeah. I could tell, but she's so nice."

"Did the hat want to put you anywhere else? It seemed to take a while." Observed Blaise, leveling his warm eyes at her. She smiled at him as well, observing the boy who had just gone up to sit on the stool, with the hat on his head.

"Well, it said I would do well in Ravenclaw, but I wanted to be with you all so bad, so I asked it to put me here. It was very polite. He said that I should come up and chat some time, he apparently doesn't get many visitors except when he sorts the kids every year." She waved across the hall at her friends at the Gryffindor table, the Weasleys and Hermione waving back. Ever since Harry had started making friends in the other houses, the rivalries had all but stopped. Now, Slytherins and Gryffindors were friendly, smiling and waving at each other, cheering when any house got a new member.

Draco got a funny look on his face, and dropped under the table, coming up next to Ana between her and Greg, squeezing himself in, making Greg shift down a seat. Harry narrowed his green eyes at his friend. Draco didn't heed the glare, and pulled Tatiana into a hug and gave her a light peck on the cheek. Harry growled at Draco while Ana blushed lightly. Blaise rolled his eyes and playfully gave Harry a light kiss on the cheek to make him shut up. Harry went bright red and suddenly was very interested in the Headmaster's speech. Blaise winked at Draco while Tatiana looked confused at her brother's reaction.

Ana bounced in a very undignified way to the Slytherin table to see her brother at dinner the next night.

"Guess what! I-"

"As entertaining as I'm sure your day has been, the Headmaster would like a word with you and your brother." Snape loomed up behind Tatiana, a sneer firmly in place.

Harry wondered why the Headmaster would have them miss dinner, but he followed his still bouncing sister and Head of House to the Headmaster's office. When the door to the Headmaster's office opened, Harry was shocked, and his sister squealed before throwing herself into the lap of the man seated in front of the large desk.

"Daddy!" Their father enveloped her in a large hug, wrapping his arms around her, before turning to Harry.

"What, no hug?" he asked, brown eyes glittering with mirth. Harry grinned, and strode forward to give his father a dignified hug.

"Hello, Father."

"Now that you have all greeted each other, I am afraid that we must have a serious conversation." The Headmaster had a fairly serious expression on his face, and Snape took a seat in the chair to Marcus's right. "Tatiana. Your father has come to me with the request that you be allowed to go home on October 31. He seems reluctant to tell me, would you be willing to tell?" Ana, who had settled on Marcus' lap looked suddenly nervous, and looked over her shoulder to get permission from him. He frowned at the Headmaster.

"Headmaster, I have taken all of the necessary precautions for my daughter when she comes home that, should the need arise, will be utilized." At his father's words, Harry looked at him in surprise.

"You finished reinforcing the room?" As soon as he had said this, Harry clamped his lips together, realizing that he had let something slip. Marcus continued as if Harry hadn't said anything.

"If my suspicions are confirmed, then I will be glad to meet with you, Professor Snape, and whomever else you would like to be there, and make appropriate arrangements for her condition."

Snape looked at Harry curiously, apparently deciding that if he wanted to get any information that he would have a better chance of getting it if he asked Harry.

"And what would this condition be, Mr. Riddle?" Snape used his strict voice that bore no room for wiggling out of the question. Harry shifted nervously, trying to resist the urge to answer the question. His sister beat him to it though. She bowed her head and murmured so quietly everyone almost missed it.

"Werewolf." Her voice was quiet, but Marcus heard it and stiffened slightly. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"Could you say that again, my dear? I don't think that all of us heard what you said." His voice was kind, but when she raised her face, a single tear dripped from her green-amber eyes, and fell down her cheek.

"I'm a werewolf." Snape stiffened visibly in the next chair, and another tear fell down her cheek. "I haven't transformed, but Daddy thinks that that's what I am, and he can't give me the potion anymore, so he wants to make sure that if I transform, I don't go crazy on the school. That's why he wants me home on Halloween, it's my first full moon." Through her speech, Dumbledore's eyes had widened, and now he smiled at the girl trembling on her father's lap, fearing what the reaction of the old man across from her would be.

"Well, we can work with you being a werewolf. We have had students with similar conditions in the past. I believe that arrangements can be made. On Halloween a portkey will be made to take you to your home, and bring you back to the school. When you return, we will send you to a safe place to transform from then on. The building can be reinforced with spells and such to make it a suitable place for a werewolf to, as you put it, 'go crazy', and the Wolfsbane Potion can be brewed to make the transformation more manageable. Does that agree with you, Mr. Riddle?" While Dumbledore was talking, Marcus had hidden the rising anger he felt that the man was ignoring the frightened girl, so he had pulled her into a tight hug. Now, he looked over her head at the old man.

"That seems reasonable, Headmaster," was the calm reply.

"Very well then. Harry, would you and your sister like to go down to dinner now? I'm sure there is still some food left on the tables." Harry nodded, and with a last nod to his father, and a meaningful look, he took his sister and led her out of the room with an arm around her shoulders. Once the two were gone, Marcus was about to stand up when Dumbledore spoke to him.

"Mr. Riddle. I am afraid you can't leave quite yet. Professor Snape and I have a few questions to ask you." Marcus didn't like the sound of that. "Are you in the service of a dark wizard?"

"No." Marcus snorted at the thought of it. Serve a dark wizard? He _was_ a dark wizard. "And if you mean by that, do I serve the Dark Lord, no. I don't. I would never put my family through that."

"Then perhaps, Riddle," sneered Professor Snape, "you could explain how it is that you came to be in the possession of Harry Potter? Or do you not think that a fair question?"

"I don't know about Harry Potter," stated Marcus, shrugging, "but I found Harry, and made him my legal son. If you don't mind, may I go? I only took a few hours off to make sure that it wouldn't be a problem with Ana being a werewolf." As he spoke, Marcus was putting together a plan to break Fenrir Greyback out of Azkaban prison the next night.

"Yes, of course, just one last question. Are you a Death Eater?" Dumbledore's eyes were serious, with all of the twinkling gone. Marcus chuckled.

"What ever gave you that idea?"

"You referred to Voldemort as 'The Dark Lord,'" stated Dumbledore.

"Only Death Eaters do that," was Snape's addition. Marcus smiled at them as he stood up.

"I see no point in fearing a name, although it is also good to give your enemy respect, as well as a bit of fear for the person themselves, or you may end up underestimating them." With that said, he walked out of the office, quietly going through the halls, out the door, and across the grounds to the end of the anti-apparition wards, so that he could Apparate back to his work. He smiled to himself as he went back to helping customers purchase their choices. Ana was only ten, and that meant that she was powerful enough to gain admittance to Hogwarts before her eleventh birthday. His plans were indeed going well.

It was two weeks later when Dumbledore was woken early in the morning by someone knocking on his office door frantically. Since the break out from Azkaban the week before, the teachers had been nervous, and stricter than usual. The students were told to come into the castle before dark now. Although the likelihood that Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf notorious for killing children, would come to Hogwarts was slim, all of the teachers, especially Professor Lupin, the DADA teacher had been doing patrols in the evening. No one had complained yet, and the searches had been light and few, but Albus Dumbledore was still more tired than usual.

Sighing, the old man made his way to his office, calling out as he entered the room.

"Come in!" Professor McGonagall almost fell into the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Headmaster!" she exclaimed, her face white, "I am convinced that several more ghosts have taken up residence in the castle!" Minerva's bathrobe was slightly askew, the deep green making the white of her nightgown stand out in contrast.

"Now, why would you say that?" asked the old man wearily. He sat down behind his desk, and popped a lemon drop into his mouth, savoring the sweet taste.

"I saw Nearly Headless Nick, and the Gray Lady speaking with two other ghosts that I had not seen before."

"Why are you so worried?"

"Nick was saying how nice it was to have the children of Salazar Slytherin around to talk to now-"

"But that could merely be that there are students in the school distantly related to the Slytherin line. It's not imposs-"

"But they were talking to the other two ghosts! And then they laughed, and one said that they weren't here to hang around, but that they would love to help Peeves! Sir, we may have two new Poltergeists on our hands!" Dumbledore paled at the thought of three Peeves wandering around the castle.

"Very well. I will inform the rest of the teachers, and we will have nightly patrols in the corridors, and daily patrols, until we find these new ghosts.

"As you say, sir."

"Good night, Minerva."

"Good night, Albus."

Once around the corner from the Headmaster's office, Professor McGonagall's body began to bend and boil, shrinking into the body of Harry Riddle. Sniggering, the rest of the group – Blaise, Ana, Draco, Fred, and George (who had dropped a few morals hanging around the Slytherins) – headed to their respective dormitories for a night of pleasant sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: My friend, we shall call her Totchi-chan is helping me by giving me ideas. If I owned this, I would make money, and not need her help. I am only a poor student without a job.

Nee-chan whacks me on the head

"Ow!"

"Hey don't hit her, if you do that, this will never get written" says Totchi with a scowl.

"B-but…" Says me.

"Write!" shouts both.

I pout

Both squeal and squeeze me till my eyes bug out of my head

Totchi hits Nee-chan on the head

"Don't distract her!!"

///FOUR chapters. One day. Fuck, my hands hurt… I still have to write another test, don't I… AND IT WILL HAVE AN ESSAY. Maybe two essays. OK, think happy thoughts… Happy thoughts… Disemboweling AoMori with a rusty, serrated, red-hot spoon… Slowly, and with much acid involved… Maybe a couple of platypus thrown into the mix, just for fun…///

Chapter 5

It was now October 31, and Harry was getting worried about his sister. She had been more irritable than usual in her attitude to the rest of Slytherin House. The students had gotten it into their heads, that unless they wanted her glaring at them, making a comment about how they needed to bathe more (which was usually true). One such incident had happened three days before. Marcus Flint had tried to get close enough to have a conversation with her and she had told him that he needed to shower more than once a week. As it turned out, the last time he had actually had a shower, not just washing off the sweat, was precisely seven days before. After that, the showers had been used almost twice as much as before. By now, Harry was pretty sure that everyone had guessed what was up with the first year, but no one said anything, they just accommodated her. Loyalty in the Slytherin House, despite what was said about them selling anyone out, was a powerful thing, and went a long way.

He thought that it couldn't have helped that they were studying werewolves with Professor Lupin and the way werewolves were portrayed in the textbooks was as beasts, animals, unworthy of the equal rights as humans, and wizards. The way they were shown was horrible, and some of the students had protested the ideas that the creatures were mindless, and even when it wasn't the full moon, would kill you on the street. It couldn't be helping her opinion of herself.

Now, Harry was looking at her across the lunch table, chewing thoughtfully on his tuna sandwich as he watched her eat her own sandwich, thick with ham and turkey. Most girls would frown on such a large pile of meat, but apparently, his sister had no such issues with body image. Harry watched as Draco came stomping into the hall, and he saw his sister's usual response to his presence. Her nostrils flared as he sat down next to her, and when he brushed against her side, she shoved the last bites of meat in her mouth, grabbed her bag and the potions book she had been reading for her next class, and ran out of the Great Hall. Draco just sighed at her. He had gotten used to this in the past week. Neither one of them could explain her reactions. They were considering asking Professor Lupin about her reaction to him, but they hadn't been able to get a moment alone with him lately. Blaise thought he was avoiding them because Dumbledore had informed him of the girl's werewolf status.

Harry just sat and watched tiredly as his sister ran out the hall, leaving the hall in a hurry on her way to sit outside the potions classroom until it was time for class. Harry was glad of one thing, though. Ginny Weasley and the new girl in Gryffindor, Crystal Silvarna, were trying to help in any way they could, trying to get the first year to talk to them. Although she refused flat out, and Ginny got fed up, Crystal would sit beside her, and wait until Ana leaned against her, started talking as if nothing were wrong, or crying. Either way, Crystal was a blessing in Harry's mind. It sure helped things. Harry also found it slightly offensive that _his_ little sister wouldn't talk to him, but felt more comfortable with Gryffindors, Crabbe and Goyle, and Blaise. His father had written to his concerned letter that perhaps she was concerned that everyone would reject her if they found out. Harry had been annoyed at that. She was her brother wasn't he? That had been annoying him all week, and now he took Blaise's hand, and left the Great Hall. He had seen Crystal take off after Ana a few seconds before, so he wasn't that worried, but he needed to vent, and he needed to now.

Pulling the surprised boy into an empty classroom, Harry cast some privacy charms, and then slammed his fast onto a desk, sitting down and cradling his head in his hands.

"What's the matter, Harry?" was Blaise's quiet question as he approached Harry quietly, gently placing his hands on his best friend's shoulders and rubbing the stiff muscles slightly. Harry groaned a little, and relaxed into the touch. "What's on your mind?"

"It's Ana."

"What about her?" His voice wasn't quite surprised, and the hands kept up the soothing motions.

"She wont talk to me, but she'll talk to the bloody Gryffindors, sometimes you, and even Gregory and Vincent, but she wont talk to me, or Father. Why? Doesn't she trust me?" Harry felt the hands stop, and then he was face to face with Blaise, kneeling in front of him, serious face just inches from his own. The dark, soft hands of his friend came up and cupped his face gently.

"No, she loves you. More than any of us, I think. She loves you; you are her best friend, her brother. None of us can beat the bond the two of you have formed." At Blaise's words, Harry felt sadness grip him, and felt his eyes filling with unshed tears, the pain of the past two weeks catching up to him.

"Then why? Why won't she tell me what's wrong? I can see that she's hurting, and it kills me that I can't help." His voice broke, and he would have turned his face away at his show of weakness, but the firm hands held him in place.

"Because you're her brother, she loves you, more than anything. She wants your approval, and that of your father. She's terrified that if any of us find out that she's, I believe she put if 'a horrible monster', that we will leave her, and abandon her. She's more afraid of losing you and your father than losing us. I can't explain Draco, but she feels safer around Crystal who doesn't give up on her. Gregory and Vincent, who have shown her that no matter what, she's normal. They're misfits, so she feels that she fits in with them. Apparently, she feels somehow safe with me, maybe because I'm the sane one in this group," he smiled kindly at Harry who had tears falling down his face by this time, "but you are the most important, and no matter what you do, she will always want to please you. And besides not wanting to repulse you, there's the physical pain. Because the transformation was held back so long, it's like she's going through all of the ones she's missed every moment leading up to the first transformation, and even then, it will be unbearable."

Harry had gone pale at the mention that she was in pain. So this was the price to pay for the transformations being held back this long. There never was anything gained without having to pay a price.

"Pain?" Even to Harry's own ears, his voice sounded weak.

"Yes. She told me about it so I could cover for her when it got to be too much, and she needed a silent room to scream in." His face became puzzled. "You didn't know? Your father never told you?"

Harry was trembling with anger. He would bet that his father hadn't thought about it. Blaise moved back slightly from the angry wizard.

"Scream?" Blaise understood the question.

"Yeah. She would pull me into an empty classroom, and then I'd cast the most powerful silencing spells I could while she just writhed on the ground, screaming. It was terrible. Bloody hell. I never thought you didn't know."

"Why didn't she take any pain relieving potions?"

"We were worried about how they would react with that potion cleaning itself out of her system. Crabbe and Goyle were the ones to bring up the concerns. All of us agreed not to risk it." Harry's mind was spinning, and in the distance, he could hear the bell, giving them five minutes until class started. After classes were over, he would skip the start of dinner, and send his father a letter. Maybe that would help. He was vaguely aware of Blaise dragging him in the direction of the Astronomy tower, holding both of their bags, but he couldn't bring himself to really absorb anything beyond fear for his little sister, and what would happen to her tonight.

As DADA ended, Ana went up to Professor Lupine's desk, and waited there until he looked up. He would have the Portkey that she needed to get to her house and back that night. He looked up at her. She could tell that he had only taught up until now because he wanted to supervise her and make sure that she didn't do anything stupid. He nodded to her, and walked into his office. She trailed behind, and gritted her teeth to keep herself from wincing with every step, every ounce of pressure on her skin. Her bag was murder, casually cast over her shoulder. If she could, she'd drop it and curl up in a ball, whimpering, but she kept walking, ignoring the pain that had been getting worse as it got closer to the full moon.

Once in the office, She looked around, and only barely registered a tank sitting in front of his desk before a medallion on a golden chain was thrust into her hands.

"To get back, just say 'Cotton candy'. It should go off," he looked at the clock against the wall, "now." She felt a tug behind her navel, and then she was traveling through space to land directly in her living room. The dizziness, coupled with the pain, made her fall to her knees. Quickly getting up, she saw the room was empty. Shrugging, she looked around. All was as she had left it. She felt a small thrill of pleasure at the sight of the familiar house. Hearing voices from her father's office, added when she was five, she called out.

"Dad?" Immediately, she heard footsteps coming to the door, and then the door was thrust open, and she was pulled into a tight jug by her overly excited father. She never could see why people were afraid of him. He was so sweet. At the moment though, she wished he hadn't hugged her, and it made her bones compact painfully. When he pulled hack, he kept an arm around her shoulders.

"Ana, this man," he gestured to the rough looking man standing in the office doorway, "is Fenrir Greyback. He's going to help you tonight, he's a werewolf too." Remembering her manners, she smiled her best at the stranger in the ragged jeans and red shirt.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Call me Fenrir, pup." His voice was deep, and she realized that, despite the grey hair, he couldn't be that old. Probably only his early thirties. Smiling still she replied.

"Okay, Fenrir."

Fenrir couldn't believe it. Seeing this pup was like seeing Kierla alive again. Ever since his mate had died, he had been devastated. He had looked for the pup all over the country in every wizarding, and some muggle, towns, trying to find the pup his mate had hidden before her murder at the hands of the Aurors. That had been the only thing keeping him alive. His pup. Wherever it was. But the moment he had stepped foot into this house, he had smelled a scent that was a mix of the man standing before him with the girl, his own scent, and that of Kierla. This was his pup. It took all the will power he possessed to not charge forward and hug the little pup to him. He was smiling slightly, the only sign he let show at his exalting spirit.

"Shall we go, then?" asked the Marcus Riddle, smiling reassuringly at the girl who looked at him trustingly. "I finished the room, so everything is all set." The he had turned around, arm still around the girl's shoulders, and Fenrir was left to follow the two.

As they were walking up a flight of stairs, a horrible thought occurred to him. If this was the girl's first transformation like the man said, then she had been repressing it since she was small, meaning that it would be terrible for her tonight. He clenched his teeth at the thought. If she were not strong enough, the transformation could kill her. Didn't this man know anything? But apparently he had faith in the pup, and Fenrir resolved to have a little chat with the dark wizard after this night, and politely ask that he give up any rights he may have to his pup. In the mean time, his only goal was to make the process as painless as he could for his pup.

The room in question was apparently at the end of the house. Stepping into the room, Fenrir was amazed. The room was reinforced with concrete, about two feet thick, and spells, layers of wards. On one wall were several holes, only about an inch across to let in light and air. The girl looked at her father worriedly.

"Daddy, what about my uniform? Wont it get ripped up?" her voice was unsure, and Fenrir was worried. Why was she sounding afraid?

"Don't worry, Ana. I've bought you a few more uniforms to use, as well as some old clothes that you can wear so that you don't ruin too many outfits." He smiled at her with a kind smile and Fenrir bit back a growl. How was Riddle so confident in his wealth? He just made it seem like he could buy her anything she wanted. It was a waste to needlessly destroy clothes. He would have to teach her the tricks to getting through the transformations.

As soon as the two werewolves were in the room, the door swung shut behind them, trapping them in the concrete room. Ana whirled around, and threw herself at the door, whimpering at her father.

"Don't worry, Ana, I'll let the two of you out in the morning. Good luck! There are silencing wards around this hall, so no one will wonder about the noises." Then there was the sound of retreating footsteps, and Fenrir wondered how the man could be so callous? He watched as she fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands, eyes shut tight, lips in a thin line.

"If you don't want to ruin the clothes you have on, you can take them off. There's no point in wearing them, you'll shred them in the transformation anyways. I'm not keeping my clothes on, but it's your choice." He watched her nod, stand, and start tugging at her robes before turning around to give her some modesty. He didn't want her to be too uncomfortable.

He watched what little sky he could, looking at the stars as he waited for the transformation to begin. He pull off his own clothes, back still to her and waited.

"Mr. Greyback-" Her voice was tentative, soft.

"Please, call me Fenrir." He kept his back to her, and his voice soft, to not frighten her.

"Well, Fenrir, ummm… will it hurt? I've hurt for the past week, my body will feel on fire, or like by bodes are being stretched and compressed. Is that normal? Will it be worse?" She sounded so scared, he couldn't stand it, and turned to face the little girl, who hadn't a stitch of clothing on her, an kneeled before her, placing one hand on her shoulder, and one hand under her chin, making her look him in the face.

"Your body has been slowly making up for all of the changes it has missed, since you were a pup. That's the pain; you probably won't feel it after this transformation. It will hurt, every time. To change, your bones have to break and reform. It will hurt, and you may need help changing back to a human, but I will help you through this, you understand? I will help you, pup." His words comforted her, and she nodded, tears shining in her eyes as she looked at him. Suddenly, she completely ignored the fact that she had on no clothes, and threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Fenrir." He couldn't help but hug her back. They were that way for only a moment before the full moon rose up into the sky, and they began to change.

Years of changing, about twenty-seven years worth of transformations, had made him grow used to the pain, and so he was able to watch his pup's first transformation. She was screaming, her bones reshaping, fur sprouting, bone structure elongating and compacting, her teeth sharpening and lengthening, eyes changing a bit, becoming more amber, but the green still there. It tore at his heart how she was screaming, how it hurt her so much. When she finally stopped screaming, and she was done transforming, she was beautiful; her fur was pitch black, with silver markings on her chest the tip of her tail, her left ear, and her rear right paw. She was panting and whimpering, her limbs trembling with fatigue.

His wolf recognized her, and he felt the need to comfort her. Coming over slowly, he licked her muzzle, and then gave her a full bath, from head to toe. She squirmed, and stood up. She was so small! She barely came up to his chest in her wolf form, and as she stood there, waving her tail back and forth, in a happy gesture, he nuzzled her side playfully.

They spent the rest of the night, acquainting Ana with her new wolf form.

The next morning, Fenrir was awoken right after dawn by a wet tongue licking the side of his face. He grunted and opened his eyes. Standing before him, still in her wolf form, was his beautiful pup. He smiled, and sat up, pulling her into his lap, scratching her sides, and behind her ears. Pretty soon, she was twisting as she changed into her human form, curled up on his lap. He pulled her to her feet, and helped her put some of her clothes on. She curled up in a corner, and fell asleep while he pulled on his own clothes. When Marcus Riddle opened the door with a bright smile, Fenrir scooped up the little girl, cradling her to his chest. He carried her to her room, putting her on her bed, and then walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"We need to have a serious conversation, Mr. Riddle." Fenrir said, looking the strange man right in the eye.

When Ana woke up, she was in her bed, and felt bone tired. Standing up, she made her way down the stairs to her father's office, where she heard voices coming from.

"You mean that Tatiana is your daughter?" Her father sounded a bit angry, and Ana froze, listening at the door.

"Yes! I've been telling you this for the past hour! I have proof, test our blood, test her magic, anything!" Fenrir sounded more upset than her father at the moment, but that quickly changed.

"And what do you want me to do?" Marcus was shouting now, and she heard a slam. Wincing, she felt a sliver of sadness for the poor desk that just got hit. "Do you want me to let you have her? Take her away? Harry is her brother, I am her father, I will not let her life be changed so much simply because you are the man who was partly responsible for her creation!"

"No! I just want to have some say in her life! See her at holidays, at the full moon, tell her who her mother was, that she looks exactly like her, what a werewolf pack is like. I want to be able to make up for all the years that I was gone. I want to be her father. I would love it if she would take my name, but that would never happen. You're so stubborn." One of the chairs got thrown across the room, and she felt sorry for the furniture in their house, it got manhandled a lot.

"You're right, I would never let her take your name, maybe as a second middle name, but never as her last name, I am her father, I performed the blood ritual, and you shall not take her."

"Well, you-" Ana had had enough of listening. It was sinking in. She pushed the door open, staring at the two men, both her fathers.

"You're my father, Fenrir?" Both men whirled around, surprised that she had appeared in the office.

"Yes, I am." Said Fenrir softly, his anger deflating. Both men were beyond confused when she smiled at them both.

"Now we have a family, two daddy's! I've always wanted another Daddy!" And with a simple statement she completely ended all tension in the room. "I would be honored to take Greyback as one of my names." Smiling, she hugged them both, and smiled at them brightly.

Harry was panicking. His sister was supposed to have come back to Hogwarts by breakfast, but she had yet to show up, and he was sitting in the Great Hall, eating _dinner_. If one more person told him that his sister was probably only sick, he was going to march up to Professor Dumbledore's office and demand to know where she was. As if on cue, Ron Weasley, sitting at the Slytherin table to offer what comfort he could to his friend turned to him with a teriyaki chicken leg in his mouth and said the unforgivable.

"Don't worry mate, she'll show up, it's probably just a cold. No need to worry. If I worried every time Ginny never showed up to a meal, I'd have gray hair by now." Unaware of what his words did, Ron was startled when Harry slammed his fork down on the table and stood up, leaving the hall. He was out the doors and going towards the stairs, with Draco and Blaise running to catch up, when he heard a gasp from his right. Turning to where he knew a secret passageway shortcut to the kitchens, Harry's eyes widened. There stood his sister, with a tall man with amber eyes, and gray-blonde hair falling to his shoulders. The man grinned.

"So, pup, this is your elder brother, and his two friends, right? And the blonde one would be the infamous Draco." Everyone looked at him, and Ana pulled on the man's sleeve, making him bend down to hear her. He frowned as she spoke in his ear. "Again, I say, that sounds like you've found your-" Her hand flew up to cover his mouth, blushing scarlet.

"D-don't say it! Let it be, alright?" The man removed her hand and grinned, kissed her on the forehead, turning to the three boys standing shocked in the hall. "You be nice now, alright? She's tough, but mightily insecure. Don't ever let it get out of hand, or you'll be answering to me." With that he strode out of the castle, never looking back behind him at the stunned boys.

"What was that?" asked Draco.

"That," said Ana, blushing slightly, "was my father. But never mind. I found out that there's an old tunnel that leads to an old building that I can use when I transform. Dumbledore will let me use it, and we can reinforce it with word, spell, whatever. But no one can be there with me unless there's a shield between us." She took off along the hall to the dungeons, chatting happily. Harry finally snapped out of his daze and pulled her to him, embracing her narrow shoulders.

"I was so worried, Ana. I thought something had gone wrong."

"Well Daddy had to help me get out of the form this morning, but-"

"Father doesn't know anything about werewolf transformations. How-" Harry was confused, but she interrupted him.

"No, _Daddy_ is different from Daddy. You just met Daddy. He's the man responsible for my being. He's a werewolf too. Isn't that neat?" She seemed so happy, that Harry just couldn't bring himself to wonder why she had labeled both men 'Daddy'. Sighing in exasperation, Harry kissed the top of her head, and walked with his arms draped over her shoulders, standing behind her, making her giggle as they went to the dorms.

"You know, I want to see your wolf form at some part. It must be pretty." Commented Draco, coming to walk beside the two siblings. Ana bowed her head in shame.

"I guess." She muttered. Harry looked at Blaise. They were really going to have to work on her confidence.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I just love all the characters to pieces. To the real people some of these are based off of, blame Totchi-chan, she made them up. And the real Yoshinori, if you read this, blame Toshimasu.

This was co written with ginkitsune, or Toshimasu. Yay!

Oh, and this happens whenTatiana is in her fifth year, and Harry is in his seventh.

Chapter 7

"Ana, don't you want to go and see what the new exchange students are like?" Crystal stood in the door, her thick black hair pulled back from her face with purple hair clips shaped like lilies. Ana thought they were aided with magic because her friend's hair was so thick the little delicate hair clips couldn't have done the job on their own. Ana sighed, and pulled the invisibility cloak out of her trunk.

"You know I can't, I can't risk that they'll be late, and the moon will rise, and I'll transform in the field among all the students. I don't want to endanger anyone. Otherwise I'd be out there in a second. You know I would." Crystal, the one of her best female friends, a Gryffindor, had become a normal sight I the Slytherin dorms and common rooms, as Ana had in the Gryffindor dorms and common room. Both girls were informed when the other house changed their passwords. No one cared anymore. They had learned that no matter what they did, they would always find a way in.

Harry had made friends with the basilisk, and so knew all the secret passages around the castle, and Ana had taught Crystal how to say 'open' in parseltongue so that the passages were open to her. Harry had laughed at the effort, but when Crystal had been able to open the Chamber of Secrets with her imitations of the language, Harry had just grunted, and Ana had put an effort into teaching Crystal some other useful words in the snake language such as 'friend', and 'help', 'no', and other helpful phrases like 'git', as well as some colorful language. The way that they made sure that no one would be able to impersonate each other with Polyjuice was by learning how to say their names in the language. Now they could get anywhere in the castle, and enjoyed pranking the boy's dorms. On the second day of school all of the Gryffindor seventh year boys had woken up in Slytherin colors, and whenever they saw Snape they were compelled to sings his praises and try to embrace him. Blaise was pretty sure the potions professor was permanently scarred.

"Yeah, well…I'll tell you what happens. Want me to cover your escape? Walk you out?" She was kind, and would walk out the doors with Ana to cover up any doors that had to be opened. She would meet a snake out there, and bring it in to cover up her reasons for going outside in the first place.

"Thanks, Crystal. I appreciate the thought. You're great." She pronounced as she pulled the cloak around herself.

"Yeah, and you better remember it. Remember, my birthday's the last day of January." There was an answering snort from the air behind her. "Okay, let's go! Hot international boys await!" She could almost hear the eyes rolling behind her.

Harry watched Crystal come out the doors, and walk down the steps, knowing that Ana was carefully making her way across the lawn toward the Whomping Willow, carefully avoiding the students milling about the area.

"If she's not careful she'll be caught," grumbled Draco, eyes set straight ahead at the area they were told the students would be coming from.

"Too bad you have to wait for Harry to take her the 'morning after' potions and new clothes this time, and me the time after this, and Crystal the time after that, and then she's home. You don't get morning duty till after winter break. You know, if you want to tell her you have a crush on her, I'll let you have my turn." Blaise smirked at the blond boy, now blushing a furious shade of red that would have nicely complemented a Weasley's hair.

"And risk Mr. Riddle killing me? No thank you. You remember that time he gave us the speech on 'intentions'? He basically told us that we weren't allowed to ask her out until after she graduates and doesn't have any more classes to worry about. Harry, your dad's insane." Harry smiled at Draco's words.

"He's not the only one you have to worry about if you ask my sister out."

"But we're best friends!"

"That doesn't save you. Sister trumps friend."

"Says who?" Draco looked appalled, his eyes wide.

"I think it was Darwin with his theory of the selfish gene, or biological altruism, one of those." Harry smiled as Draco struggled for words. Blaise smiled and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders, smiling.

"You apparently take those muggle classes during the summer, still." Harry's face, red from the contact, was now the same color of Ronald Weasley's hair, and as he stuttered, Blaise pulled away, chuckling.

There was the sound of wind chimes, and with a great rumbling, an ancient Japanese building was suddenly floating above the lawn in front of him. The school from Japan, Hayishi, had arrived. The students stepped out of the building, warm clothing surrounding them, shielding them from the chill wind.

"Hey, Harry," said Draco, "lets go, we have to welcome the Hayishi students, they're staying with us, after all." Harry nodded, eyes on the Whomping Willow, worried that it hadn't frozen yet, signaling that his sister hadn't yet made her escape to the shrieking shack. As they made their way over to the Japanese students with Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott, a giant bat landed on the lawn to their left, and three boys climbed off it's back, a woman remained on the bat though, and Dumbledore walked up to her. They guessed that she was the teacher of the German students from the school Izan. Curious, they listened and watched out of the corner of their eyes as they walked past.

"Helen! You're not staying?" he sounded amused, and the three drastically different students looked at the headmaster wearily. One had light brown dread locks, a dark baseball cap set firmly on his head, baggy red shirt under a thick black cloak, and baggy black jeans with a chain on one side. Beside him was a boy with similar dark eyes, black hair with white streaks, a tight fitting black shirt with long sleeves, loose black jeans, black eyeliner, and a tick winter cloak around his shoulders. A few feet away from them was a boy who was about four inches taller than them, with dark brown hair, pale blue eyes, and clothes that looked like they would be worn by a Malfoy.

"Sorry, Albus, but I must go, get back to school and all that. Bill and Tom are the twins, Sebastian is the Quidditch player. Tom has the dreadlocks; Bill is the one in black. Sebastian is the other. Goodbye!" And with that, she was gone, the bat lifting up into the sky. Dumbledore gestured the Gryffindor seventh year boys over.

"You three young men will be staying with the seventh year Gryffindors in their dorms. You have your luggage shrunk, I suppose?" they nodded. "Excellent! You may head up and get situated." He then strode over to the Slytherins and smiled at them as they made their way over to the Japanese students. Harry noticed the Whomping Willow freeze, and smiled in relief. He hoped that Ana had still gotten her Wolfsbane, Snape had taken ill shortly after the Weasley twins, aside from running a joke shop, became his TAs. They were told that it was pneumonia, and he was incapable of making potions for a while, but Harry figured he'd make it for Ana and Lupin no matter what. He didn't notice that the new student Bill looked over at the tree, nostrils flaring as the excited Gryffindor boys led them through the crowd.

"Tom, will you cover for me once we're settled?" he asked his twin.

"Yeah, why?" was the curious response.

"I want to go check something out."

"Okay, little brother."

"Quiet, you."

Harry led the Hayishi students towards the dungeons. Pansy Parkinson had taken charge of the girl in the group, Kaiko, a very pretty girl in her fourth year at her school, the equivalent of Hogwarts seventh year. She had light green eyes, tan skin, and dark brown, layered hair. Now, Harry and the boys were walking slightly behind them. The boys' dorm had been magically enlarged to include beds for the new students. Shinsaku was in his final year, Toshimasu was apparently in his second year, about Hogwarts' fifth year, and Kyo was in his second year as well. The boy was a little intimidating. He had multiple piercing, three in both ears, one in the cartilage in his left ear, two in his lip, and on in his right eyebrow. Yoshinori was in his third year, and the teacher, Sakamoto-Karin was staying with Professor McGonagall. They walked down, and showed them all where they would be staying. All of them were in the same dorm, because it was decided by their teacher that it would be best for them if they were allowed to stay as a group, for support in this experience in another country.

Harry made sure that they were all settled, and made the excuse that he had to take care of some personal business before disappearing up the stairs, and heading across the lawn. He had a set of clothes, and his wand, ready to spend the night in the shrieking shack with his sister, and use the glamors to cover the bags under her eyes, and any scratches that might result from her transformation.

Bill watched curiously as the boy walked to the tree. He frowned in confusion, there was something going on at this school. He knew the smell that filled the building, but couldn't figure out what it was. He heard a small 'oh' from behind him, and turned around. He stood in the doorway, looking at a dark skinned girl in Gryffindor robes.

"I-I was looking for Harry Riddle." She murmured, blushing slightly. He smiled at her with the fake smile he used to get his way, and make people trust him.

" Does he have messy dark hair, glasses, and green eyes? He just went out, I can tell him for you, though if you want." He could see her giving in to him.

"Alright, could you tell him that Ana doesn't want a fuss made, but they only had one batch of the potion, and she gave it Moony? So she didn't take her potion." With that, Bill remembered what that smell was, werewolf, and he took off running. The boy was expecting to see his sister, and was going to get a very angry werewolf, wanting to eat something. Or someone.

He quickly made his way down the passage, bent over and running. He had to make it to whatever was on the other side. As he came out of the tunnel he head the sound of a crash and then a voice shouting a shield spell. He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time with ease. He pushed open the door at the top to see a large wolf with black fur, a silver left ear, rear right foot, and tip to her tail. Her eyes were a beautiful swirl of amber and green. Bill saw the shield failing, and pushed the human behind him, eyes on the wolf before him.

"Wait!" the boy struggled in the grip Bill had on him, "don't hurt her! She's my sister! She doesn't mean it-"

"I know that, the girl in Gryffindor told me that she hadn't taken her 'potion'. Go to the nurse, wait for us there. I wont hurt her. GO!" Harry ran out the door and the wolf lunged for them. Bill slammed the door shut and set up a barrier so she couldn't escape. The wolf growled at him and circled him. He wearily kept an eye on her, and waited for her to make the first move.

She leapt at his throat, and with inhuman reflexes and strength he sent her flying back across the room to hit the wall. He thought he could hear something break. She stood near the wall, watching him and keeping her weight off of her rear left paw.

"You really are a peaceful one, aren't you?" he asked quietly, inching closer slowly, taking his time to not frighten her. "You could have eaten that boy. His reluctance to hurt you could have killed him, you know. How about in the morning we see if we could get along, huh?" he saw her stand and snarl. He realized the shredded clothes on the floor must have fallen when she hit the cabinet. She would be walking naked in the morning.

Bill dodged her next slow attack, and pinned her to the ground, using his knee to hold her down at the stomach, one hand at her throat, and the other holding her front paws so she couldn't scratch him. He was immune to the werewolf bite, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell when something bit you with sharp teeth.

"Will you please calm down, or will I have to knock you out so that you don't hurt yourself?" Bill asked her calmly. He dodged one of her swipes at him with her claws, but she gave herself a nasty gash across her face that she ignored in exchange for dislodging his weight from her. "I take it I'll need to knock you out?"

She growled at leapt at him, still avoiding using the injured leg, but with a tremendous amount of force. Bill dodged to the side, not quite missing a claw across the ribs, and grabbed what he guessed was the cement brick they usually used to keep the door open when they were going in and out. As she went by him he brought it down on her head with all his might, cracking the stone. He also heard a disconcerting crack of bone, and felt that he would be in for a good amount of trouble when her brother found out about the nasty lump on her head in the morning.

Feeling the urge to rest, he sat down, and examined the scrapes he had acquired. It felt like he had been sitting across the room from the sleeping wolf for an eternity before he head her bones snapping, and rearranging themselves. He looked up, and his eyes met the green-amber eyes of the girl lying across the room. She felt her injuries, touching the gash on her cheek and wincing, looking at the lower part of her left leg, bent at a slightly wrong angle where it should have been straight. Her hand strayed up to her head before thinking better of it.

"Who-" she had barely started talking when the girl with the deep purple bags under her eyes realized that she was stark naked. With a squeak, she tried to turn away, but stopped when her head and her leg protested the movement. Bill smiled at her kindly and got up, walking toward her, ignoring the nostrils flaring, and nervous looks he was receiving, and draped his cloak, around her shoulders. She pulled it on, then noticed the rip in the side, paling.

She looked at him, and opened her mouth to speak, but Bill, realizing her intentions, held up a hand.

"There was no damage done, I am fine, it's lucky that I am basically immune to werewolf bites. I figure that you should keep that cloak, and we should head to the hospital wing. I think you gave your brother quite a nasty fright." She nodded.

"Thank you for stopping me. Is Harry really all right? I didn't bite him, did I?" she stopped, fear in her face, "You wont tell, will you?" Bill frowned, and resumed the normal face he used with most people, a blank mask, with a slight frown.

"Of course not, it's not like you meant to hurt anyone. You asked your friend to warn him, and I think you kept a pretty good control of your wolf, you didn't really get violent until after he was gone. Now, " he bent down, placing one arm across her lower back, and the other underneath her legs, "I should get you back to the hospital wing, so your nurse can look after you." She nodded, and when he lifted the surprisingly light girl up, she wrapped her arms around his neck, ignoring the cloak slipping.

"Thank you." It was quiet, but he heard it, and readjusted the cloak so that it covered her legs and chest, when she let him go, balancing her lower half on one propped up knee, and made his way to the tunnel.

The moment they entered the hospital wing, Bill was able to see Harry lying on one of the beds, asleep. The mediwitch, a strict looking woman with a white apron came hurriedly across the ward. The girl in his arms waved at her cheerily. Bill could tell she was exhausted, and snorted quietly at his charge's antics.

"Hello, Madame Pomfrey, I'm back!"

"And look at the state you're in. Harry comes in here, babbling about something apparently having gone wrong with the potion…I had to give him a bottle of dreamless sleep to get him to rest." She motioned Bill over to a bed, not commenting about the girl's state of undress. She promptly began prodding the unfortunate girl with her wand.

"Come on, Madame P., it's not that bad-"

"A fractured skull, concussion, broken leg, contusion on the face, severe bruising on the back, and it's not that bad? Did you even take the potion last night?"

"Well, Professor Snape said that he was sick, and couldn't be bothered to make another batch of the potion, so I gave Remy my extra bottle from the last moon. He tends to stay in his office, and I didn't want-"

"Who's Professor Snape?" asked Bill curiously. He could feel a bad mood coming on, and it was directed at the owner of that name.

"The potions master," snapped Madame Pomfrey, "who should know that no matter what is wrong with him, he should make that potion for the two of them." Bill saw Ana wince at a particularly vicious prod of the other witch's wand.

A gasp from the bed across the room made Bill turn around. The boy with black hair, and bright green eyes was sitting up in his bed, looking at the girl with horror.

"Ana! How did you get hurt so bad? What happened after I got out of there?" Harry rushed over to Ana's side, looking at Bill accusingly, as if to say, 'how could you do this to my sister?'

"After you left, she decided that to rip my throat out would be pleasant entertainment, so I threw her across the room. She shredded her clothes, and landed funny on her left leg. Then when I managed to pin her down, she scratched herself. I ended up hitting her over the head with a brick, since I figured werewolves were at least a little magic resistant in the animal forms." Madame Pomfrey looked at him with approval, while Harry looked at him in horror. Ana was looking depressed, so he took her hand, and squeezed it. "You didn't hurt me, so don't worry about it."

"Indeed. If he hadn't knocked you out, I'm sure that you would have much more severe injuries than you do now." The mediwitch responded. Harry looked at her in shock. "And you, Mr. Riddle, should go to your dorm, then down to breakfast. Let them know nothing's wrong, and that your sister will remain in the hospital for observation for the day, I don't want the concussion getting any worse.

"But-"

"No, Mr. Riddle. And you, thank you for helping our Ms. Riddle through the night. I assume you won't be telling anyone?" Bill shook his head. "Good. Now, both of you go to where you are supposed to be." Both young men nodded. Harry was reluctant to leave, and Bill was walking out when he heard Ana speak again.

"Thanks you, Bill!" He stopped, and looked at her curiously, feeling a strange emotion constrict his chest, before heading to Gryffindor tower.

At breakfast, Bill sat next to Ron Weasley and his brother Tom. Sebastian was sitting a little further down thee table. The dark haired man, who was looking quite intently at the Slytherin table, intrigued him. He had a redhead on either side, both trying to talk to him, and each other.

"Hey, Weasley, who is that dark haired man in between the two redheads?" asked Bill with mild curiosity. Ron looked at the table and snickered.

"That's Professor Snape, and the two boys sitting with him are my older brothers Fred and George. They're his TAs." Bill had a sudden urge to cause the man harm. Sensing this, his brother placed a restraining hand on Bill's arm. Ron snickered. "Apparently when the Headmaster appointed them he didn't quite realize how much Snape hated them. He said 'Severus, you're becoming too disconnected from your students, and your lessons aren't as engaging as they used to be. So I'm appointing these two gentlemen to help you manage your work load so that you can focus on your lesson plans a little more.'" Ron kept snickering, and barely noticed when Bill stood up and made his way over to the staff table.

At the Slytherin table, the Slytherins were a little angry at their head of house. They all had guessed that Ana was a werewolf, although no one was going to tell her brother, (who knew all the most painful hexes) that they knew. One student had overheard Harry and his friends saying that Snape had failed to make the potion that eased the well-liked girl's transformations, and now the whole house knew.

As he had breakfast, a twin on either side, they could almost hear the silent plea from the teacher; 'save me', and the students from his house were sending back a very solid answer. 'No'.

Needless to say, Harry was very surprised to see the new student that had saved him the previous night walk up to their potions teacher, and do what none of them had ever dared to do, to even consider in their wildest dreams.

Half of the student body looked like they wanted to cheer, Slytherins included, and the other half looked like they were itching to get up and do a jig. The other professors couldn't do anything but stare at the dark clothed boy with dark makeup.

Bill let out his frustrations in one punch that sent the man falling backwards out of his seat.

"You should have just made the ruddy potion," was all he said before walking out of the Great Hall. All of the teachers stared after the dark haired boy, and Snape sat there, blinking rapidly. Fred and George looked after him in amazement.

"What did you do, Sevvie?" asked George, looking at the man in suspicion.

"What potion didn't you make that pissed him off so much?" asked Fred with an identical expression on his face. They were interrupted by Dumbledore, who stood up and gestured for Snape to follow him.

"I believe that we need to have a discussion, Severus. Tom," he called over the hall to Bill's twin, "perhaps you could find your brother, and have someone show you the way to my office when you are able?" With that, he walked away from the table, an angry looking Snape, with a nasty bruise already forming on his jaw.

Harry stood up, assuming that his sister would be wanted in the headmaster's office as soon as they reached his office. Standing, he started to walk to the hospital wing. It only took him a moment to realize that there were two of the exchange students following close behind him. Sighing in exasperation he let them follow him out of the hall, and then turned around to face them. He vaguely recognized them as to of the students from the Japanese school that he was going to have go with Ana to her classes. Kyo and Toshimasu, he thought.

"Why are you following me?" he asked, looking at the taller of the two, Toshimasu. The boy smiled softly and shrugged.

"I'm to follow your sister to her classes, right? And you're going to see her, correct?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Then I believe that I should follow you, so that I may be introduced to her properly. Unless you have any objections?" Harry looked at the two, and received a slight glare from Kyo. Resisting the urge to glare back he sighed, and gestured for them to follow him.

Toshimasu and Kyo followed Harry up the stairs and through the halls to the infirmary. Harry was slightly nervous about them following him to the hospital wing since he had no idea in what state Ana would be, but he allowed them to come since he had no actual reason that he could share that would discourage them from coming. When they walked into the infirmary they were greeted by the sight of Madam Pomfrey walking out of her office, looking as if she might explode, and several rows of very empty beds.

"Madame Pomfrey, would you happen to know where Ana is at the moment?" Harry was looking around nervously, knowing that he was in for it if she had disappeared.

"She snuck out of here a few minutes ago. If you see her, tell that girl that the headmaster wants to see her, and that if she doesn't show up in here by dinner, I will march her back from wherever she is hiding, or even summon her, and she will have to deal with it. Do I make myself clear?" By the end of her rant Harry, though not usually one to be intimidated by anyone, felt like he would very much like to sink into the floor.

"Right. Yes, Madame Pomfrey, I'll tell her." Harry used the connection through the necklaces to reach out to his sister's mind.

'_Where the bloody hell are you?'_ he dried. His hand unconsciously came up to clutch the gold necklace. Kyo and Toshimasu both noticed this, as well as his eyes unfocusing and glazing over slightly. Kyo made a mental note to ask his family to send him information on what it would be, but he assumed it had something to do with the boy's mind.

'_Uhhh…'_ was the response he heard in his head.

'_You disappeared from the hospital wing! Where did you go?!'_

'_For a walk…'_

'_A walk? You just went through a transformation and you went for a walk?'_

'_Well, yeah.'_

'_Madame Pomfrey says that Dumbles wants to see you, and that if you're not back in the hospital wing by dinner she will hunt you down and march you back here. You will tell me when you are done, and then you will find me.'_

'_Yes, all powerful one.'_

'_And we need to talk about last night.'_

'_What's there to talk about? I screwed up.'_

'_No, you didn't.'_

'_Yes, I did, and now that exchange student guy knows.'_

'_He wont say anything about – '_

'_Really? 'Cause I'm seeing a petting zoo in my future.'_

'_Stop being depressed, I can feel those dark thoughts all the way across the link.'_

'_Bug off.'_ And then Harry was being blocked from her mind. Letting loose an internal growl, he looked at the two boys still standing next to him.

"She's going to see the headmaster, I'm not sure how long it will take, so you guys could stay with me, or you could go with another student in her year. Only Crystal in Gryffindor is coming to mind at the moment. It's most likely, though, that by the time lunch rolls around, Ana will be back. Will you stick around until then?" Kyo and Toshimasu looked at each other for a second, and seemed to exchange a silent message before turning back to Harry.

"Yes, we would be content to spend the first part of the day with this 'Crystal'" said Toshimasu, nodding politely. Harry led them back to the Charms corridor where he saw Crystal standing against the wall, chatting with some other girls wearing the red and golden ties of Gryffindors. Crystal pushed away from the group, and walked towards him.

"So, Ana not here today?"

"No, you are going to escort these two around until she is back. I assume you will be able to introduce yourselves, and if you will excuse me, I am almost late for my potions class." Crystal grinned at him, but turned to the two stoic looking boys, and stuck out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Crystal Silvarna, and what would your names be?" Harry suppressed a chuckle. Those two were in for one heck of a morning.

Ana stood outside the gargoyle that stood guard over the entrance to the headmaster's office, glaring at the statue that refused to move out of the way. She had gone through every candy name that she knew, muggle and wizarding, and now she was glaring at the statue.

"Move." Nothing happened. "Oh, move your slimy, dust infested, smoldering, disintegrating, ancient, know it all, statue butt or I swear I will levitate a bucket of basilisks-" The statue jumped to the side, and Ana's jaw dropped. Basilisks. Not even a candy. Who had taken over the old man's brain? She knocked on the door at the top of the stairs, and heard someone shout for her to enter. Pushing the door open, she froze. Sitting in two of the three chairs placed before the headmaster's desk were Bill, and Tom.

Bill turned around when someone knocked on the door, and was not at all surprised to see the female werewolf standing in the doorway. He registered a very brief widening of her eyes before she locked her emotions behind her eyes, and turned to the headmaster. Bill could smell her nervousness, though, and found himself intrigued. She was afraid of something.

"What did you want with me, Headmaster?" her voice was calm, and Bill doubted that any normal human would be able to see anything besides a confident teenaged girl. Bill did notice, however, that she had dark circles around her eyes, and her face was unnaturally pale. He found himself wondering if adding some makeup would make the dark haired girl look a little less ragged.

"Ah, Tatiana. Please, have a seat," she looked at the chair immediately to Bill's left, and there was a moment when she raged an internal battle of whether or not to sit before she gave in and sat down. The old man across the desk smiled at the three of them.

"We need to discuss what happened last night between Bill here and yourself, Miss Riddle. Would you like to give me your side of the events?" Tatiana shruggedHiHi.

"There's nothing much to tell, actually. I'm sure that he's told you what happened." She stared at her lap, silently trying to keep her tears from forming. She had attacked another student. This was it for her. Farewell Hogwarts, hello home-schooling with Dad.

"Well, as I understand it, Professor Snape neglected to make the potion, and you were unable to control your actions when you transformed. However, it seems that Bill here managed to restrain you throughout the night, and kept you from injuring yourself or any other students." Ana stared at him, her eyes wide as the blue eyes of the Headmaster twinkled like mad at her across the wooden desk.

"But-"

"It's not like she actually managed to hurt me," said Bill, looking across the room as if he didn't particularly care for the conversation at the moment, "I think I may have hurt her more than she hurt me."

"Is this true? Are you alright?" Ana looked uncomfortable.

"Madame P. fixed me up pretty good, she mended the bone, healed the fracture, and the cut on my face is gone without a scratch, I'm fine."

"You did all that to a girl?" Tom looked at his brother and then bowed his head slightly, "Oh well."

"She's neglecting to mention _where_ the fracture was, as well as the sheer number of bruises she acquired." Ana glared at Bill and gave a low growl, which Bill returned.

"Well, it's great to know that you two are becoming such close friends." Tom looked at the old man as if he were crazy. Neither Bill nor Ana looked around; they were too busy glaring at each other.

"Perhaps you could help each other get ready for the dance tonight? Bill could put some makeup on you, you would make all of the boys stare, I would think if you accented your looks." Tom smiled at the gaping girl. Bill swiveled his head around, turning an even more venomous glare on his twin.

"Excellent!" cried the Headmaster, clapping his hands together and his eyes twinkling in overdrive, "the two of you can meet in the Gryffindor common room a few hours before. I dare say that Miss Silvarna would be more than willing to let you borrow one of her dresses, if your father is not capable of sending an owl with a dress in time." Ana gave him a look that clearly said 'my fathers will never find out about this, either of them'.

"What time would this dance be?" Bill was looking straight at the Headmaster, and Ana felt slightly sad that he didn't appear to want to have anything to do with her. Tom however was smiling. He probably thought this great fun.

"The dance starts at six, dinner will be served there, and classes end around three-thirty, so you should meet in the common room at four. I wish you all a wonderful time, and perhaps you should go to your classes now." The three teenagers stood and left the office. As soon as they were outside Tom turned to her.

"Vampires don't befriend werewolves as a rule," Ana raised an eyebrow, "but with you I think we will make an exception." Bill looked at his brother out of the corner of his eye.

"We will?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Ana was getting the impression that they had forgotten that she was there.

"She doesn't seem that bad, besides, you said it yourself, she has a reasonable amount of control over her wolf form, she's not just a mindless killing machine when the full moon rises." Ana felt herself slump. They had forgotten she was there. Turning around, she was about to leave them to it when a hand closed over her shoulder, pulling her back. Her quick reflexes was the only thing that kept her from falling on her head from the suddenness of the action. She suddenly found herself with her face inches from Bill's.

"I will teach you how to put on makeup so that it is less obvious that you are unwell when it is the full moon. I will help you tonight before this dance we are being forced to go to." Ana suddenly felt like the emotional turmoil she had gone through in the past twenty-four hours was catching up with her. Fear she had bitten Harry, fear she had hurt Bill, the terror that he might tell, the relief he hadn't, the sadness of being forgotten, and now relief again. She felt tears well up in her eyes and launched herself at Bill, catching him in a hug. Tom laughed from where he stood, and so she lunged at him, bringing him into a three-way hug.

"Thank you." Her voice was muffled from where she had buried her head in Tom's over sized sweatshirt.

"Why are you always saying that?" Bill asked. She laughed, and drew back, wiping the tears away with the back of her arm, drying her face with her sweater sleeve.

Suddenly she heard Draco's voice in her head, and winced at the sudden level of noise.

'_What happened to you? Harry's in class with me now, and I know him well enough to know that something is up. Where are you?!' _

Bill and Tom were looking at her in curiosity.

"What's wrong?" Bill took a step towards her, and she shook her head.

'_Go away!'_

'_Who are you with?'_ Draco's voice had taken on a slightly jealous tinge, and she could not for the life of her understand why he would be jealous of her being with other people.

'_Why does it matter?'_

'_Because it does! Why wont you tell me?'_ Ana reached out to Harry's mind, bypassing Draco's in the process and she could feel his indignation at the move.

'_Harry! Get Draco out of my head!'_

'_Draco! Out of Ana' head!'_ She got the impression of Harry kicking Draco under the table where they sat in class, and then both boys were out of her mind, and she was able to focus on the two vampires standing in front of her.

"Sorry about that, I was, ummm…" Bill shrugged.

"Whatever. But whatever made you space out like that should be rethought, in a fight that could be a disadvantage. Ana smiled at him faintly, and held onto her head as a pounding headache began to form.

"I hate it when they yell at me," she decided that they knew about the werewolf thing, so what could hurt if they knew about the necklaces.

"There's no one here…" Tom had raised an eyebrow, and she gestured for them to follow her to the Infirmary. No point going to class at this point, and she had to report there at some point anyways.

"My brother, our friends and I have necklaces, each one unique, and they allow us to speak to each other in our minds. That was Draco shouting at me, and he wouldn't go away." She sighed as they started down the stairs to the floor below. "I don't get them sometimes."

Tom and Bill looked at each other behind her back and then looked ahead again to keep following her.

"Where are we going?" Tom hadn't been to the hospital wing before, but Bill had just that morning, so he knew where, and answered the question for his twin.

"I need to check in with Madame Pomfrey, I snuck out this morning, and if I don't come back for a check up she's going to use a spell, find me, and then put me through the indignity of marching up to the Infirmary with her." Bill smiled faintly as they went through the doors and entered the sterile area that was the mediwitch's domain. Almost immediately they saw her come rushing out the doors to her office.

"Where have you been?" she shrieked, making Ana clutch her head as the noise lanced through it. Bill looked around with apparent disinterest, and Tom looked around with curiosity. Madame Pomfrey noticed both boys, and looked at Bill sharply.

"He didn't do anything." Ana preempted her question, and took the sharp look instead. "If you want to blame someone for my headache, blame Draco. He yelled at me." Bill found it slightly humorous that the mediwitch seemed to know of the necklaces, but didn't show it on his face, and simply stared out the window at the grounds, watching the single cloud visible from his angle drift across the sky with a painful slowness.

The two vampires watched with amusement as the werewolf was poked, prodded, and generally tested to make sure that all of her injuries from the previous night were healing well.

"I'll never get used to how fast you werewolves heal." She grumbled, but reluctantly let Ana go down to lunch, and the mediwitch watched the girl's two new friends follow her out.

The Great Hall was full of students, and when Ana entered, she saw Crystal wave her over. Sighing, she walked over to the Gryffindor table, ignoring her two shadows following her through the tables. When she got to the table, she saw two boys sitting to the right of her friend.

The one immediately to her right, sitting beside her had long black hair that was heavily layered, with the lowest layer sporting a blue tint, pale skin, and mesmerizing blue eyes so dark that they appeared to be almost black, outlined with a very faint black eyeliner. The one to his right had three piercings in each of his ears, one in the cartilage of his left ear, two in his lip (one on each side) and one in his right eyebrow. His eyes were black, and she could barely see the difference from his pupils and irises, the only way she could see it was that there was a very slight red tinge around the pupil, and only someone who was looking for it could see that fine detail. His hair was layered as well, just reaching below his ears, with red streaks and tints throughout. Ana was getting the same sense from them as she got from Bill and Tom. These two were vampires as well. The same smell behind their own scents. She smiled at them.

"Hello."

"Totchi, Kyo, this is Ana Riddle, she is the girl whom you are to follow for your stay here," Ana had a feeling like she should have known this, and maybe she had, but tat the moment, she smiled and pretended that she remembered.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." She smiled at them and inclined her head in an abbreviation of a bow. Both of the vampires looked past her slightly to take in the two boys standing behind her.

"And who would your friends be?" Totchi kept his voice pleasant, but Ana could hear the slight strain in his voice.

"These are-"

"I'm Tom," Tom gestured to himself, and then placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, "and this is my brother Bill."

There seemed to be a slight tension between the four boys, and Ana was suddenly very uncomfortably aware of it.

"So, ummm…how has your day been so far with the Gryffindors?" The one called Kyo looked at her with those strange eyes.

"Yes, it was a pleasant day. Are we going to go with your for the rest of the day?" Ana smiled at him.

"Yes, you will, and then I will leave you in the common room before the dance, so that you can get ready if you want to, and then you can find your way up to the Great Hall for the evening. It is required that we go to the dance."

"I'm sure that it will be a nice evening." Totchi smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Why don't you sit with us? Lunch is almost over, so why don't you all join us?" Crystal seemed completely oblivious to the undercurrents in the conversation, and the added stress that the four vampires were hiding.

Smiling at her politely, Bill and Tom let Ana slip into the spot on Crystal's left, and then slid onto the bench next to her when several students scooted closer together to avoid the rather intimidating boys. Ana almost inhaled a rather large sandwich, and downed a goblet of pumpkin juice before the bell rang, telling all the students that they had to be going to their classes.

Ana stood up with Totchi and Kyo before she realized she was missing her bag. Turning to Crystal she opened her mouth to tell her she was going to go and get it, but was stopped from saying anything when Gregory Goyle came up to them, holding two bags. He offered one to her.

"Your brother said to give this to you if you came after he had already gone, and that if you make a habit of sneaking out of the hospital wing he will track you with the map next time." Ana smiled at him, and took the burly Slytherin in a grateful hug.

"Thanks Greg!" she smiled at him, and gestured for her two shadows to follow her. Next class up; History of Magic. Joy.

Ana was thoroughly confused about Kyo and Totchi. They had spent the afternoon together, and they had only mentioned the fact that she was a werewolf once, and that was to ask if she was alright since it had been the full moon the previous night. Ana had blushed, and told them she was fine, that it didn't matter. Totchi had then gone into a whole lecture on what was and wasn't okay, and that if she was in pain, it was better to admit she was in pain and do something about it, that if she kept it bottled up inside she would end up lashing out at someone and it would most likely be someone she cared about. Kyo had then added that if she let anything happen to any one she loved, she would never forgive herself. He had retreated into his own mind, and so had she. After that conversation, Totchi tried to talk to her, but she stayed quiet, avoiding his mesmerizing gaze.

Now she stepped through the portrait hole that led to the Gryffindor common room, and almost ran into Ron Weasley. He stumbled back while she stepped back and pivoted slightly to let the momentum carry her back, avoiding falling on her butt like the red haired boy.

"I'm so sorry, Ron, are you okay?" Ron looked up at her, and stared for a moment before grinning.

"Yeah, nothing's bruised, except for my pride. How'd you manage to stay standing?"

"I guess I'm sturdier than you are. Do you know where Bill and Tom's room is?" Ron looked at her blankly for a moment, and then grinned as he remembered the exchange students from Germany.

"What do you want with them? Is one of them your boyfriend? Or are you looking for that Sebastian fellow? If you are, he went out a bit ago, I think that he's flying on the pitch."

"I am looking for the twins." Ana sighed, and just looked at him, waiting for him to stop grinning at the apparent blackmail information.

"Do you have a _crush_ on one of them?" Ron was grinning as he stood up, smiling from ear to ear.

"No. If you wont tell me where their room, is I'll just go ask-" she stopped when she heard the voice above her.

"There you are," Tom stood at the top of the stairs to the stairs to the boys' dormitory, frowning, "we were wondering what was keeping you. Come on up." Ana grinned at Ron, and then headed up the stairs, ignoring the curious looks directed at her back. At the top of the stairs there was a wall. When Tom got to the wall, he looked back at her, and smiled slightly before whispering to the wall just loud enough for her to hear.

"Vampires rock." Ana snorted quietly. The wall slid aside to reveal another staircase winding upwards. At his curious look she smiled faintly.

"Funny." She followed him up the stairs, and heard the wall slide shut behind them. When they got to the top, there were two doors facing each other. They went into the door to the left, and Ana assumed that the other door led to Sebastian's rooms.

Bill and Tom's rooms were done in dark colors, greens, blues, and blacks. However, she was drawn from admiring the room, and the impressive view from the windows leading to a balcony when she saw Bill standing there, holding a black dress with a ragged, artistically torn hem, and low neckline. On the couch sat a pair of high-heeled black shoes with a slight shine to them, with black ribbons attached to the sides to lace them up, and a pair of fishnet black tights. Ana stared at it for a moment in horror.

"Where did you get a dress?"

"We acquired the Floo address of your father from the headmaster. He sent this to us, he said that it was in your size." Ana felt a murderous urge rise in her. Her father was going to die a slow and painful death. _Very_ slow.

Harry was worried. Ana had been gone for over an hour, and now everyone was slowly filing into the Great Hall in various costumes, and fancy ball gowns. Harry was finding it hard to keep his worry from being visible. She had stopped by the Slytherin common room, dropped off Kyo and Totchi, her bags, and then she had gone up to those two boys' rooms. He hadn't even had a decent chance to yell at her for disappearing yet.

Sighing for the twelfth time in as many minutes, he stared at the doors to the Great Hall. He hadn't seen her come in yet. Blaise and Draco were both standing on either side of his, waiting as well. The close presence of Blaise was enough to make it hard for him to think, but he kept hold of his emotions by focusing with all his might on the large wooden doors, trying to will his little sister to walk through so that he could give her a lecture on her safety. And if he would be called an over protective older brother, oh well.

Harry focused as he saw a trio of figures start to come down the staircase that was visible through the open doors. Ana walked down the stairs between Bill and Tom, looking almost as if she belonged there. The top half of her hair was pulled back with a silver hair clip designed to look like a dragon in flight, with deep blue stones hanging from the tail, reaching to the base of her neck. Two small sections of hair had been left loose to fall on either side of her face, framing it. She had on a black dress that clung to her form, flaring slightly at the hips, and then hanging down to just below her knees, where it looked like several strips had been cut from it. Underneath it she had a pair of deepest blue tights, and she also had a pair of shiny high-heeled shoes with black laces that wrapped around her calves and tied into neat bows at her knees. The dragon necklace that she had made which connected their minds and those of several of their friends was visible because of the low neckline, which was not quite low enough to show off any of her breasts. He heard a low whistle from Draco on his right. Ana had on what must be pale face powder, a little hint of color on her cheek bones, deep red lipstick, and black eyeliner making her green and amber eyes stand out in her face.

Bill was wearing tight fitting black jeans, a blood red tight shirt with a black leather jacket covering it, and his black and white hair slightly styled to stand up a bit. Tom was wearing a pair of baggy jeans held up by a belt, and an oversized pale blue sweatshirt. His brown dread locks were pulled back in a black baseball cap. Harry's thoughts of lecturing his sister were temporarily driven from his mind.

Ana felt slightly uncomfortable with a large portion of the male student body suddenly staring at her. She was glad she had managed to talk them out of making her wear the fish nets, and let her borrow her current pair of blue tights from Crystal, but she still was showing off a large quantity of skin, with the sleeves that were really only half of a sleeve.

She saw Draco, Blaise and her brother, along with every other boy in the school gaping at her, and she blushed, grabbing the hands of the boys on either side of her. Bill gripped her hand back, and Tom gently wrapped his fingers around hers, lending her the confidence to walk into the Great Hall with her back straight. Approaching the table with her brother, she let go of the hands she was holding and stepped forward.

Harry watched her come towards him, and watched pointedly as she let go of the hands she had been holding to approach the small circular table he was standing at. She smiled at him hesitantly and Harry felt his resolve melt.

"You haven't told me why you left the hospital wing this morning." He leveled a firm glare at her. Ana looked down slightly, avoiding his gaze.

"I just felt that I had to get out of there, I was worried that you would be angry that I hadn't taken the potion." Harry was about to say something, but Blaise pulled the girl into his arms, and hugged her. She was very much a little sister to him. Harry smiled at her.

"Snape was the one who didn't make the potion, it's not your fault, although you could have told someone that you didn't taken it, you saw us before, you could have warned us. If that happens again, then-"

"Then we will stay with her, so that she is not alone." Tom stood in front of them with Bill. "She is not able to infect us, because of what we are, and so it is the logical choice that we would be able to restrain her during the full moon." Harry smiled at them. He appreciated the gesture, and the reassurance that his sister would never be alone on the full moon.

"That sounds alright," Harry grinned at the two boys slightly, "what made you friends with Ana so quickly?" Bill and Tom looked at each other for a moment, and then turned back to the group.

"Because it will probably piss off our families if we are friends with a werewolf, and she's a cool kid." Tom slung an arm around her shoulders, and the girl blushed at the praise. Draco was looking at Tom as if he had committed some grave offense, while Blaise and Harry were grinning. Suddenly, Bill and Tom stiffened, and they turned around, keeping themselves slightly between the newcomers and the girl. Standing there were Kyo and a smiling Totchi.

"I am glad that there is an agreement between us." Totchi smiled at them, and they all found themselves very confused.

"What agreement?" Bill hissed.

"That the girl is worth befriending. She may be a werewolf, but she is interesting, and you, Harry Riddle, you fascinate me as well." Totchi was still smiling, and Harry felt a slight chill crawl up his spine. He stepped forwards despite that, and looked at the boy seriously.

"What do you mean, 'we fascinate you'?" Totchi smiled at them, but it was Kyo who answered, and despite his shorter stature, Harry found himself more frightened of him than of the taller boy.

"There is a dark aura around, you, yet there are tendrils of light, swimming through it. It is one of the few that I have seen. The color is a sort of glowing gray. I would be interested to see what happens to you in the future." Harry looked at those black eyes and shivered. He did not want to get on the bad side of any of the recently arrived students.

"Then you need a nickname." Everyone looked at Ana, who had a determined look on her face, while her eyes glittered with mirth.

"Excuse me?" Kyo looked at her with an emotionless expression that would have made others quiver with fright, but not Ana, no, not her.

"Well, Toshimasu is Totchi, and there's not much that I have thought of for Bill or Tom, though they are sure to get a nickname too, but I just thought of one I could call you." Bill and Tom were looking at her with suspicion, and Kyo narrowed his eyes.

"What is it, Ana?" Totchi smiled politely.

"Midgy." If it had only been them in the Great Hall, people would have been able to hear a pin drop. No body moved. Then Harry snickered.

"What's so funny?" Kyo was baring his fangs at the teenager, but Harry shook his head.

"It's short for 'midget'. She's saying you're short." Kyo almost had a murderous look in his eye as he rounded on the girl, but stopped dead when a choking noise was uttered from behind him. He turned around slowly to look at Totchi, whose lips were twitching, and face taking on a slight red tinge from contained laughter.

"Don't mind me," snort, "go ahead, but I rather like it." Kyo closed his eyes slowly, and relaxed his posture.

"Very well."

Draco smirked at him, and murmured through the mind link.

'_I think that Totchi is the one with the power in that relationship. Notice how Midgy just stopped in his tracks?'_ Everyone sent him an annoyed look, and no one noticed how Kyo looked at them all intently as their eyes glazed ever so slightly. Bill did, and brought the attention back onto to himself.

"How about we take a spin around the dance floor, Ana?" The music playing had a fast paced beat, and Ana found herself quickly in the middle of the floor, twirling and spinning, moving across the floor, or swaying, bouncing, jumping to the music as the night wore on, and she was asked to dance by multiple people. Harry too found himself being approached, but by girls, and even once by Blaise, who had him do the following part. As they swayed to the slow music, Blaise turned him around so that Harry's back was to his chest, and lowered his mouth to his ear.

"Look at Draco, he is so obvious, and everyone knows he likes her but her." Harry looked in front of him, and sure enough, half way across the dance floor area were Draco and his little sister, swaying, her arms around his neck, and his hands on her hips. He was smiling while she chattered away at him quietly. He looked like what he was listening to was not important in comparison with being in such close contact with Ana. Harry smiled and turned around to look at Blaise, and wrap his arms around his neck.

"Well, as long as he doesn't try anything, I think it's fine."

"Romantic."

"No, just letting him have his fun, as long as he doesn't make a move on my sister."

"Kind of you."

"I know."


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own it. Do I sound like JK Rowling to you? If I do, I'm either better than I think, or you haven't read the books enough. Again, I make no profit.

Riddle's Son 8

The music pulsed through the room, and Harry managed to pull himself from the mass of dancing teenagers (the first through fourth years had gone to bed almost an hour ago) only to be almost knocked over by Blaise running into him, and throwing his arms around his neck.

"Haaaaaarrrrrryyyyyy!" Blaise seemed slightly out of it, and was leaning on Harry so much that he had to struggle to stay upright. "Have you tashted de punsh? Itsh really good!"

"Blaise, are you alright?" Harry could smell the alcohol on his friend's breath, but he felt he had to ask anyways.

"Yesh!" was the slurred reply. Harry sighed, and led his friend over to a table at which Crystal was sitting with her own glass of punch before her, and helped Blaise to sit down, then turned his back to the dance floor to go to the snack table and get a nice, non-alcoholic glass of water. Suddenly he felt arms wrap around his neck, and legs wrap around his waist from behind as something crashed into him, propelled by werewolf inspired strength.

"Haaarrrryyyy! Guesh what!" Harry struggled to rid himself of the clinging limbs, and ended up with his little sister still wrapped around him, but facing him. Seeing no other way out of this situation he smiled politely at his obviously intoxicated sister.

"What is it, Ana?"

"I saw Ginny put shomething in the punch, but none of the teachersh shaw her! McGonagal pulled her hair out of her bun after she had drunk a bit of it! What do you think it wash?"

"Ginny you say?"

"Yep."

"Why don't you sit here, nice and quiet, and not get into any trouble?" Harry managed to deposit the girl in the chair next to Blaise, who was whispering to Crystal, both of who had conspiratorial grins on their faces. Ignoring the chill that went down his spine at the image, he went off to find Ginny.

"What did you put in the punch?" He had her cornered near the doors to the Great Hall.

"Alcohol, the ultimate ice breaker!" She was grinning like a fool, and Harry felt annoyance race through him.

"What if some one did something stupid, what if someone got hurt? You could get into serious trouble, even expelled!" Ginny looked like she might be regretting her actions slightly when Fred came over from one of the tables nearby to see what they were doing.

"What's up, guys?"

"Nothing, besides your sister playing a nasty joke on everybody." Fred looked intrigued.

"Like what?"

"Making everybody act like fools."

"That's not so-" he paused, looking at the pale look on his sister's face, and then saw that she was looking past him and Harry. Harry turned to look at the same time that Fred did.

--

Bill leaned on the railing of the balcony outside of his and Tom's rooms. He kept chanting over and over in his head _'they're all drunk, they're all stinking drunk'_. He could hear a faint echo of the music from the Great Hall, and looked down on the forest, the moon and stars, letting the cold wind blow his long hair around his face. His eyes had a faint glimmer of sadness in them, and a hint of sorrow.

Tom was lying on the bed inside the room dark room behind him, and, as far as he knew, too wasted to do much more than lie there, oblivious to what was going on around him. Sighing, Bill lifted his legs so that he could climb on top of the railing to sit on the dark balcony.

Tom, not quite as oblivious, but just as drunk as his brother thought, saw this and gave an internal groan. _'He's going to do something stupid, isn't he?'_ was what he though before hoisting himself off the bed, accidentally knocking the sweatshirt he had dropped on the side of the bed to the floor. He walked, almost silently to stand behind his brother.

"Bitte spring nicht, Bill." Tom spoke just loud enough that his brother could hear him in the quiet. Tom wrapped his arms around his brother's waist, and easily lifted hi off of the railing so that he was standing in front of him, his back to his chest.

"I wasn't going to jump." Bill sighed, thinking his brother was up to the same old thing. "I can take care of myself, I'm not a little kid anymore."

"I would disagree. You're always going to be a little kid, that's how we are. Vampires. Youthful forever." Tom laughed, and pulled the slender figure closer to him in a hug.

"Well, anyways, I doubt that it would kill me, much less seriously injure me, we've jumped from this far before." Bill looked over the edge to see the ground far below.

"That's not the point." Tom's warm breath was on Bill's ear, and Bill found himself suddenly very aware of where Tom was touching him. His arms were wrapped around his waist firmly, but still sitting there, holding him in place with little effort. A little voice in the back of his head began whispering to him. _'He's held girls like this before, you know it, it's like he's holding a lover'_ the little voice in his head laughed and he willed it to go away, but it stayed there.

Suddenly it was all too much, and he just needed to get out of there.

"I-I need to go do something," he muttered, and quickly pulled out of his twin's arms and vaulted over the railing and down into the dark.

"Bill…Ich-" Tom's voice was lost to the night, the words snatched away on a sudden gust of wind. Not even the vampire's keen eyesight could see the tears falling down his dark-haired twin's cheeks as the figure disappeared into the trees.

--

"They're all drunk!" Harry yelled in frustration into the silence of the Forbidden Forest, and kicked a tree. Harry had left the party almost immediately after seeing Blaise and Crystal kissing, and now he was trying to tell himself that it really didn't matter to him that much that Blaise might be interested in some one else. Trying being the key word. Now he was just annoyed at the whole situation.

"Tell me about it," a voice echoed through the trees to him, making him raise his head to look around, "they're all going to have major hangovers in the morning."

"Who's there?" Harry asked the darkness before him, and almost jumped out of his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder. Turning around, wand drawn, he came face to face with Bill.

"I didn't take you for the type of person who went without sleep, your sister maybe, but not you." Harry could hear the slightly subdued tone to the boy's voice, and frowned.

"What's wrong with you?" Bill sifted back, letting go of Harry's shoulder to lean his back against a tree.

"Just trying to avoid my brother who somehow managed to drink the same amount probably as three of the students in there before I had to take him upstairs so that he could pass out on the bed in our rooms."

"Well, however much he drank is probably as much as Ana drank. Last time I saw her she was attempting to talk to a bush, saying something about knowing how 'that felt', and talking to it like it was a person." Harry shuddered as he thought of how crazy his sister had been acting when he had passed her on his way to the forest.

"Werewolves are just effected by alcohol in different ways than humans, or even vampires. Whoever dosed the punch is lucky that she didn't get violent and go on a massacre. Good thing she just acts a little funny." Despite the humorous comment, bill was still looking off, into the dark. Now that he had the chance, Harry looked closer at the vampire. Bill's make up, usually done perfectly around his eyes, was streaked across his face in horizontal lines that gave him a skeletal look he hadn't noticed before. Realizing that the streaks were probably made by tears, Harry found himself drifting off to think about his own troubles.

"What are you out here, Harry?" Bill's question took him by surprise.

"To get some air?"

"Don't lie, Riddle, it's not amusing. Now tell me, why?" Harry found himself looking at the ground, and then he was spilling his heart out to the pale boy.

"I saw Blaise kissing Crystal, and I just…I just felt so sad all of a sudden, like my heart was being rung in someone's hands. Twisted, torn. It was horrible." Harry felt his chest constrict, and closed his eyes. He heard bill sigh.

"How long have you liked him?" Harry blushed, but kept his eyes closed, almost afraid to open them.

"Since first year. Well, then I was just more aware of him, and then in second I realized that I really liked him." Bill smiled slightly.

"Have you ever asked him if he liked you?"

"No."

"Well, you should, because from that girl, the only lust I have felt is after that red headed teaching assistant, Fred. And from Blaise, well, you have no worries there." Harry looked at the boy, and felt himself swallow thickly.

"But what if I can't, what if I'm too much of a chicken to ask him? I mean, if he doesn't like me, then our friendship might be ruined." Bill looked away from him, the smile disappearing from his face.

"Well, at least you don't have to live with him." Harry's head snapped up. He had lived with his father and Fenrir Greyback long enough to be able to pick up on subtle hints, and this one was blatantly obvious. Not wanting to scare to other boy off, he decided to bring the topic up slowly.

"Well, on the topic of crushes, do you have one?" Bill continued to look away, but his shoulders stiffened.

"No, of course not."

"I think you do."

"Really? Who?" Harry felt a sly grin spread across his face.

"Tom." He watched Bill's eyes widen, and reached out to grab his hand to keep him from bolting away.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" Harry smiled at him gently.

"Well, you gave a pretty big hint. I mean, 'at least you don't have to live with him' points a pretty big finger at it being someone you live with, and as far as I know, he's the only person you live with. And then there's your reaction. You tried to bolt, and your body language gave you away." Bill winced, and Harry pulled him closer to himself.

"You don't seem to be having a problem with it." Bill was looking at Harry curiously, and so Harry grinned back to reassure him.

"Well, look at me, lusting after a guy. And as for not caring, I know almost nothing about vampire culture besides how to not insult or piss one off. For all I know, it could be normal."

"Let me assure you that it is not. Though it's not unheard of, and it's only usually allowed if both parties are male, bit still, we'd be looked down on, and I couldn't bear for that to happen to Tom. There would be some who would look down at me and spit on me if that got out that I liked my brother that way."

"Sounds like what happens sometimes around here, and what would happen if people found out that Ana and Professor Lupin were werewolves, so she should be able to best relate to you."

"But it's different if everyone is afraid of you, Even Sebastian is afraid of us-" Harry interrupted him.

"Same with werewolves, and their families."

"But-"

"If I can end up with Blaise, then you can end up with Tom."

"No, Harry," Bill shook his head and tried to pull away from Harry, "it doesn't work that way, it's sick. I mean, he's my twin brother, no one will approve, it's sick. I'm sick." The tears that had previously stopped came back, spilling over and rolling down his cheeks.

"Well, what do you think would happen if you suddenly disappeared? Do you think that Tom would be any less hurt by you trying to avoid him, acting awkward for the rest of your lives because you wouldn't tell him how you feel?" Harry pulled the slight boy against him, and sat on the ground with him on his lap, rubbing his back like he had often done for Ana when they were small and she was upset. "I believe that Ana has become quite attatched to you. She's opened up to you faster than she has opened up to anyone in a long time. Usually she needs to get to know someone, but with you, well, it speaks volumes, just that."

Bill chuckled thinly through a sob, and buried his face in Harry's shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, Harry just holding the other boy, leaning against a tree in the dark.

"Why do you care?" Bill's voice was quiet, and Harry had to strain to hear it, "you've known me for about a day, and yet you care. Why?"

"Because you, my friend, are very much like me in the fact that we both have crushes we are too chicken to act on." Smiling, Harry pulled him closer, squeezing the boy until he heard him squeak. "And you can stick around my sister if she forgets her potion."

"Is that the extent of my usefulness?"

"No, you can also make me smile, the way you and Tom act around her." Suddenly an idea came to Harry's mind, and he let a grin spread over his face. "Hey, Bill? Speaking of the next full moon…"

--

The morning light streamed through the windows of the Great Hall, painting the walls and tables a golden color. Not even the food was on the tables at this hour, and the illusionary ceiling had thin clouds drifting across it, turned pink by the reflected light. Despite the fact that there was no reason to be up, as it was a Saturday, two figures were slumped over the Gryffindor table, both asleep, their heads on the table.

Bill and Harry hadn't wanted to go back to their dorms, and so had gone to the Great Hall, and fallen asleep on the table. Harry had a small trickle of drool creeping down his right cheek, and down into the folds of his shirt, where he had laid his head on his arms. Now, the sun hit him in the eyes, and with a groan he began to wake up. His groan made Bill stir as well, and so they were both awake, and blinking sleepily when Totchi and Kyo slowly made their way through the doors, and to the table where the two other beings in the hall sat.

"Can you believe it that the Weasley girl dosed the punch last night?" Totchi smiled at them brightly. It was obvious that the energetic vampire had gotten enough sleep the night before. Harry grunted, and stared at the table listlessly. Kyo looked at him curiously.

"Did you not sleep at all last night?" Harry shook his head, and then, feeling the urge to sleep more, laid his forehead down on the table.

"We escaped that party, and then talked in the forest for a while. Poured our hearts out." Totchi grinned at Bill mischievously.

"Was talking all you did?"

"Yes, we mainly shared our woes about those we find ourselves in love with."

"Well, speaking of love," Kyo shivered and continued, "I will never get over being the victim of the Riddle girl when she is drunk. She is frightening. I managed to dodge her when she became more interested in a bush than in me. But I think I can safely say that I have no interest in seeing her for several hours more, at least."

"Well, I feel I should warn you then..." Harry mumbled into the table, but let the end of his sentence hang.

"Warn me what?" Kyo was merely curious, without the slightest sign of fear in his eyes. Suddenly, the food appeared on the tables, and Harry suddenly found himself with his head resting on a plate, and so he sat up resignedly, and reached for the coffee. He poured a mug of coffee, and then added some cream and sugar to it so that it wasn't so bitter.

"Ana usually gets here around the same time as the food." Harry took a sip of the coffee and watched Kyo's eyes widening just as the doors burst open and in through them came Ana, bouncing across the hall to the Gryffindor table, smiling.

"Midgy!" Kyo was up and out of his seat in a blur of movement, and then he was running for the exit, vaulting over the Hufflepuff table and then out the doors. Ana continued to come towards the table, smiling like it was not extremely early in the morning. When she got to the table she plopped down next to Bill, with him separating Harry and her. Harry was starring into his coffee cup when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw Ana reaching for the coffee, and lunged across Bill to grab the container from her, and hold it away.

"You do not need caffeine!" She stuck out her lower lip, letting it tremble slightly, and made her eyes go wide and pleading, and then proceeded to lean across Bill, who was smiling slightly at her antics.

"But caffeine help with headaches, and I have a headache, you wouldn't let your little sister suffer, would you?" Harry glared back in defiance.

"I will not give in." Harry and her continued to look at her until a voice made them all jump slightly. Bill's back stiffened.

"What's so wrong with her having caffeine?" Tom sat down across from them and watched them, his eyes dancing with amusement. Harry looked at him like he was crazy.

"The last time she had coffee was last year, over Christmas Break, and Fenrir let her have some of his. She managed to drink the whole thing, and then have another mug of it, with an extreme amount of sugar, and we sent her out to go and run around the block. She came back and proceeded to run around the house for an hour, run us all ragged, and then she flooed over to the Malfoy's and proceeded to run around their house, drive them crazy, scare the house elves, get Narcissa to dance the waltz, get Lucius to dance as well as jump on his bed, play hopscotch, tag, and monopoly, and then was brought back by Lucius, completely comatose, and she then slept for an entire day. She will not, I repeat, _not_, get any coffee." Tom nodded in understanding.

"I understand. Ana, no coffee." Ana drooped in her seat, and then, when the Weasley twins came in to sit at the staff table she jumped up to go talk to them. They all watched suspiciously as something passed between them. Harry was telling himself that it would not happen. They had seen what happened when she was given too much sugar. They wouldn't… Ana turned around, and grinned at them all as she took a long drink of a large cup of coffee. Harry paled, and turned to look at Bill, searching for sympathy, but simply found him staring down at his plate, lips pressed tight, hair hiding his face from Tom, sitting across from him. Suddenly, realizing what was wrong, he wrapped an arm around Bill's waist, and helped him to stand up.

"Let's go hide somewhere, shall we, Bill?" Ignoring Bill's puzzled glance, and Tom's curious stare, he led his new friend out of the hall, passing Draco, and calling over his shoulder as he passed, "Ana's all yours" before disappearing around a corner. Harry led Bill up several flights of stairs, all the way up to the Room of Requirement, where he passed in front of the wall three times, thinking about a comfy common room setting so that he could talk to his friend in private, without being overheard. When the door appeared out of the stone, Bill raised an eyebrow, but followed Harry in when he opened the door. Inside, there were couches, and chairs, all done in pale blues and whites. There was a fire crackling in the fireplace, making the room warm, so Harry sat on a sofa, and gestured for Bill to sit at the end opposite him.

Harry smiled.

"I was thinking about something…"

--

Ana couldn't find her brother, and she found it highly distressing. Who else was she going to make sing the Hogwarts Song with her from the top of the Astronomy Tower, and then plant a plushy pink teddy bear in Snape's office, and a black one in the Headmaster's? Resorting to her last alternative, she shouted through the mind link.

'_Harry!'_ She could feel the startled presence of her brother suddenly in her mind, and grinned in the real world.

'_What?'_

'_I want to plaaaaaay!' _Ana put a whine in her voice, and knew that her brother would be wincing with the sharp noise. Suddenly, she felt something she had never felt before, as if someone were intercepting the link, placing theirself within it, and communicating. Ana immediately recognized the voice she felt in her head.

'_Leave Harry alone, Ana.'_

'_What are you doing there, Bill?'_

'_You don't even know where here is.'_

'_But-'_ Ana felt herself being pushed out of her brother's mind. Stumbling in the real world with the force of the thrust, she stumbled against a wall, and felt something she had not felt from her brother in a long time. The feeling that she was being excluded; and it made her sad.

Standing up straighter, Ana decided to go and find Crystal. Maybe they could hang out together.

Ana looked all over the castle, starting with the Gryffindor common room, then on to the Quidditch Pitch, back to the Great Hall, through the dungeons, she even asked the Bloody Baron, despite his not talking much. She couldn't find her friend. Ana was feeling a little lonely, but kept up appearances, smiling at everyone, and chatting cheerfully with Tom when he came up to her, and giving directions to the first years who asked her which way was best to go in order to get to the lake to enjoy the last warm day before winter really set in. Finally passing an empty classroom, she was almost knocked over as Blaise stepped out of the room.

"Hey, are you okay?" He looked at her, and she smiled at him.

"I'm fine. Have you seen-" at that moment Crystal stepped out from behind Blaise, where she had been standing. "Hey! There you are, want to hang out together? I was thinking of trying to prank Snape."

"Sorry, Ana," said Crystal, nervously looking down the hall, "but Blaise and I have to go, and, well, I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"

"Sure." Feeling downhearted Ana walked them quickly walk away, hurrying down the corridor, whispering between themselves. Deciding that she could always look for Ginny, she remembered seeing her in the library, and so set off in that direction. When she found Ginny, sitting in the back with a stack of books around her, and a piece of parchment only half full on the table, Ana sat down beside her.

"What do you want, Ana?" Ginny sounded annoyed, her words clipped, her eyes fixed on the parchment in front of her. Realizing that she wasn't going to get much fun out of this, she shook her head, letting her black hair fall in front of her face.

"Nothing. Just seeing what you were writing."

"It's Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I can't get any help on it, according to Professor Lupin, so I'm sorry, but I can't let you help me."

"Don't worry about it," Ana stood up quietly, and pushed the chair in, "I'll just work on my own essay. Good luck."

"Thanks," she muttered distractedly. Smiling softly, Ana walked out of the room, and made her way to the Owlery. There was always some spare parchment and ink lying around, so she wasn't in doubt that she would find the things she needed to write a letter. Arriving at the top, she grabbed a piece of parchment, the bottle of ink, and a quill, then sat down and started a letter.

--

Harry and Bill came down out of the Room of Requirement for lunch, both feeling refreshed after their short laugh, and the formation of their plan to get the attention of the ones they each liked. However, the moment they walked into the Great Hall, they were met by Fred Weasley, who seemed to be confused.

"Hey, Harry, have you seen Ana lately? She hasn't pulled any pranks in the last few days. Not so much as a box of lemon drops on Snape's desk. Is something wrong?"

"I don't think-" however, before he could finish that sentence, he lost his train of thought as whistles and catcalls broke out from the Gryffindor table. All three of them turned to see Crystal and Blaise kissing beside the table. Harry felt his heart constrict slightly, and so he pulled Bill with him over to the Slytherine table, barely noticing the shocked look on Fred's face.

Bill sat next to Harry, and squeezed his hand under the table in silent support, and they both began to eat silently, their hands still joined under the table.

Behind them, Blaise and Crystal were both frowning, Crystal at seeing Fred choose to walk out of the hall, and Blaise at Harry and Bill, and how close they were sitting together.

Lunch passed in silence for the two pairs, while the rest of the school remained happily oblivious to their troubled minds. After they were done eating, Harry and Bill escaped out of the Great Hall, and disappeared into the corridors.

--

_Dad,_

_Hey, it's me, Ana. How are you doing? Is the bookshop doing well? I hope that Fenrir hasn't been causing any trouble, and that you haven't worked too hard. Has that one customer, Ms. Grisom, come in lately and complained about you not having books in Ket? And don't they only speak that in Central Siberia? Crazy lady._

_Anyway, there are these new students at Hogwarts, they came over with a transfer student program that Dumbledore is working on. I've actually made friends with a couple of them. Bill, from the German school, is teaching me how to put on make-up, it'll help cover the bags under my eyes every month. His twin, Tom is cool too, he's more an older brother to me, they're both nice, but I don't think most people see them that way. The other night I came into the bathroom, and they were poised over the toilet, neither one moving. Bill had a pair of scissors to Tom's dreadlocks, and Tom had Bill's make-up over the toilet. They both backed off, but it was so funny it took all of my strength and training with you on Occlumency not to start laughing right there. _

_There are also a couple of kids from a school in Japan, I really like Totchi and Kyo. Kyo acts all tough, but he's so cute! I've started calling him Midgy, I'm not sure he likes it, but he hasn't openly complained, so until then…_

_I think that Harry might like Blaise. There's definitely something there. What do you think? You've seen them interact too. _

_Fred and George are driving Snape insane. He always grumbles about him being given teaching assistants who flunked Potions, but they own a joke shop that they have Lee Jordan running at the moment, and considering how they make their stuff, I think that they intentionally failed. They managed to keep Neville Longbottom from making the entire classroom explode earlier this week. _

_I have a question. Do you know any dog animagus's? I think I might. _

_I met this lovely man last night, I talked with him for a long time, and we got along quite well. He was hiding on the school grounds. I think I know who he is, but I don't feel like telling anyone who he is. Anyway, Fuzzy said that he'll come back and visit some time soon, I'll look for him tonight. _

_Can you ask Charlie if it would be all right if I spent the non Christmas Eve/Morning part of the Winter Hols with him at the dragon sanctuary? I've been missing them all. Is that all right? Let me know if it's not. _

_Hope that you and Fenrir are getting along, and Fenrir hasn't killed anyone. Joking, joking…Sort of. Oh, and don't tell Fenrir, but Bill and Tom are vampires. They are gonna hang out with me when I transform, since they can be bitten and not worry about any of the nasty repercussions. Make sure you actually sleep, and don't ignore your own well being in favor of working, and making potions, and all that stuff. Remember, Linda down the block said that if you need to talk, you can always talk to her, she's a psychiatrist. Have fun! _

_Love,_

_Ana_

_P.S. I think Linda might like you, take Fenrir with you, he could use a therapy session or two as well. If he wont willingly go, tell him I asked you to take him. That'll make him. Bye!_

--

_Dearest Ana,_

_I am glad to hear that you are doing well, and that you have made some new friends. But really, Vampires? Then again, you can get along with anything and anyone, so I shouldn't be surprised. Do Bill, Tom, Totchi and Kyo have last names? You know my fascination with the criminal background of any of your friends, and how I love to make sure you are safe. No, I am not paranoid, I can feel you about to ask, I'm just cautious._

_I will not tell Fenrir about your friends being vampires, but I suggest that you do not write any letters while around them, he could get a whiff of it from the letter, and he hates Vampires. You had better not be doing this in some weird kind of teenaged rebellion. You haven't rebelled so far, neither has your brother, and I am thankful, but I shall be evaluating the makeup you are wearing when you come home._

_Dragon sanctuaries at Christmas? You know that place will be freezing, and that the rest of us will worry the whole time, but yes, I will ask._

_A new friend? Dog animagus's? __**Fuzzy**__? I hope you are not talking about who I think you are. He is not guilty, but the world thinks so, and I do hope that you don't get in trouble. Please, don't get into trouble, I don't think I can afford a lawyer. Well, maybe I can, but it won't do you any favors to have been associated with that man. Now, what you should do is take Ronald Weasley's rat, and give it to said dog. That would make the dog feel better. On second thoughts, no. Don't do it Tatiana Riddle. _

_Ms. Grisom is a pain in some part of the anatomy as usual. I will take Fenrir to some other therapist, but I refuse to go to that woman's house. She will attempt to feed me last Christmas's fruitcake. I hate that stuff. You know that. You know it, too. _

_Study._

_Love,_

_Dad_

--

_Dear Dad,_

_Hey there, I've been well. After I wrote my last letter I went and found Fuzzy, he's hiding out somewhere, but I like him. He amuses me. I asked him if he knew a rat, and he said that he did. I asked if it was missing a finger, and he started swearing. I didn't know what half of those words were! I mean, it was quite educational. I just watched him stomp around for a while. Well, he's a dog, so it might not have been stomping. He is a dog. He is. I swear. _

_I have a question. Why have you always tried to censure any swear words that Fenrir says around me? I mean, it's not like I don't know them. I hear them around the castle, and the exchange students all the time, they're nothing new. However, I will have to get Fuzzy to teach me some of his swear words some time. _

_Has Harry been writing to you lately? I haven't seen him around much, and when he is, well, he and Bill are on one team, and Blaise and Crystal seem to be on the other. It appears that there is something going on, but I'm not sure what it is. Do you think it's Quidditch? But, I've never seen Bill on a broom. Maybe Blaise is switching teams? Oh well. _

_Why doesn't Fenrir like Vampires? Is it something to do with all of the old stories I've heard, just an old rivalry? 'Cause we get along fine._

_Last names shall not be provided. You like genealogy so much, figure it out on your own, I will not feed your over-protective paranoia. You are paranoid, you are. You keep some nasty books in your library, the one in the office you think that Harry and I don't know about. You should tell Fenrir that for the wards to work he has to close the door all the way. Not halfway. Not three-fourths. All the way. _

_Dragons at Christmas time sounds nice, I don't mind the cold, and the dragons are warm, if not the wind. You shouldn't worry, they wouldn't let anything happen to me. They like me too much. I can't wait to see the hatchlings again! The newest group can speak and understand Parseltongue. The handlers like it that they can understand what they say. _

_I do not get along with everyone. Snape doesn't like me particularly much. Neither does Filch. I think that I might scare a few of the upper years, so I don't get along with everyone. And that snake you found last summer? We did __**not**__ get along. Trust me._

_Do you expect me to be able to tell when a neighbor is odd? Linda is nice to me, she always has cookies. Admittedly, she always somehow manages to see right through me when I lie, but can't almost anyone do that? You always can tell. So can Fenrir._

_Speaking of werewolves, is it normal for me to feel my wolf rising up every once and a while, when it's not the full moon? Just wondering, is it right for it to react to people? Ask Fenrir for me, please. Thanks._

_Love,_

_Ana_

--

_Dearest Ana,_

_I will talk to Harry for you and find out what he is doing. I doubt that it is Quidditch. _

_Fuzzy. How you came up with that name for him, I have no idea. Tell him that your father says that if he continues to corrupt you, that he will find himself with a large snake chasing him. And possibly a werewolf set on him. There is a reason that Fenrir and I have tried to not swear when we are around you. We wish to preserve your innocence, or what there is of it. Every father wishes to believe that his daughter does not know those words._

_I do not believe that Fenrir has anything against Vampires personally, just that it has been instilled in him that he should hate them, much like the Gryffindor and Slytherine rivalry used to be before your brother came along._

_And you do get along with everyone, Snape has refrained from giving you detention, and the one time you did get detention, Filch let you have it easy, he gave you to Flitwick, who only wanted you to help him grade papers, and when you were done with that, he let you go. I do believe that there are others at the school who would agree with my sentiment that you do indeed get along with everyone._

_I want those last names, young lady. What if they were from some blood thirst clan, and wanted to sacrifice you to some crazy bat god? Last names next letter. _

_Fenrir says that your wolf shouldn't be reacting to other people, unless it's a vampire, however, I assume that you have not had any urges to rip out the throats of your new friends, so you must tell us who it is, and Fenrir would like to know who it is, and how it feels. I am now using his words. Does it feel like you want to submit to them? Do you want to run away from them, get defensive, offensive, what does your wolf do? Let him know, he is actually doing research. It's amazing. You should see it, perhaps I will take a picture, it's priceless._

_Stay safe. _

_Much Love,_

_Dad_

--

_Dad, _

_Don't worry, I am fine, Fuzzy says that I am fifteen, it's about time I learn to cuss. That's what he says, I like him._

_Harry's acting funny again. I still don't know what's going on. Sometimes I—never mind. _

_The wolf thing…I can only describe it as a type of purring. Contented, almost like he said, wanting to submit. It's weird, and no, you will not know who he is. Neither will I tell you the last names of my friends. You are a paranoid old man. Get over it, you might meet them soon, if they want to come over for break._

_Fenrir is researching? The world must be ending. Take a picture. I want to see it. _

_My innocence is fine. Weird father. You deny reality. I love you. _

_Going now, bye._

_Love,_

_Tatiana_

--

_Ana,_

_Are you alright? Your letters do not sound like you, they are a bit vague. I would like to help you if I can. If it is friend trouble, I will offer my unvalued advice, or you could talk to one of your other friends. If it is boy trouble I would be happy to wipe the youth from the face of this earth. _

_Honestly, if you are not feeling well, I have no reservations about coming to make sure that you are alright. Please, write soon._

_With Deepest Love,_

_Dad_

--

_Dad,_

_It's alright, nothing's wrong. Just a bit to do. Going to go for a walk. Talk to you soon, say hi to Fenrir for me._

_Sincerely,_

_Ana_

Marcus stared down at the letter, a frown on his face. This was the shortest letter he had received from her, ever. When she went to a muggle sleep away camp for a week he had received longer letters than this. He had received longer notes from her when he came home, and her note told him that she had gone to the grocery store.

Deciding that he had had enough of waiting for her to do something, and done with waiting for Harry to notice that something was wrong with his sister, Marcus decided that it was time to pay Hogwarts a little visit.

--

Harry was in the Slytherin common room, sitting behind the couch, on the floor, playing chess with Bill. The two of them were hiding, and as the rest of the house was either in bed or studying and doing homework, they were alone in the dungeon room.

Harry was staring at the board, and wondering if there was anything he could do to prevent the imminent check-mate that he was certain was about to occur, when the fire spat suddenly, and then he heard a voice that made him stiffen, and his face pale.

"Harry Thomas Riddle! Get over here this instant!" Harry poked his head over the couch to see his father's head floating in the fireplace. He saw the narrowed eyes, and he knew that the man saw him. Looking down at his current attire, a pair of pajama pants bottoms, he contemplated coming out from behind the couch.

"Hello Father," Harry smiled, hoping the man wouldn't make him show himself.

"Harry, come out from behind there this instant, we need to talk." Harry hesitated a moment. "_Now,_ young man!"

Sheepishly, Harry pulled himself over the couch, and slid to a sitting position, facing the fire, a scowl on his face. His father scowled at him some more.

"What are you doing? And without a shirt?" Harry winced at the tone of voice, he should have known from the start, when he heard his full name, that his father was in a bad mood, and that he wouldn't be getting away with anything at the moment.

"One of the first years messed up a warming charm, the whole house is a steam room, everyone else has decided to leave until it wears off. So, what can I do for you this evening, what would make you fire-call the Slytherin common room?" Harry tried to be serious, but he could hear Bill behind him muttering under his breath about nosy parents.

"I am concerned about your sister."

Harry frowned.

"Why? Has something happened?" Harry saw his father scowl at his question.

"You are the one there with her, I would expect you to be keeping an eye on her. The fact that I have noticed that something is wrong, before you have, is quite troubling."

"Well, I've been a bit busy, you know, homework and such…" Harry was having more trouble containing a snort as Bill began to levitate a pawn, and poke him in the head with it. Harry watched as his father's eyes narrowed.

"Are you alone, in the common room?"

"Well, it depends on-"

"Harry, finish talking to your dad so that we can finish the game." Harry turned around to stare over the couch in amazement. Bill looked up at him innocently.

"Harry, perhaps you should ask your friend to join us?" Harry looked at his father, eyes wide, as Bill came around the couch to sit beside him. He hadn't seen that tight lipped, dangerously calm expression on his father's face since he had discovered that Ana had been bullied at school, and then the bully had suddenly decided to be Ana's devoted servant, volunteering to carry her books, and making sure that she got a shady spot at lunch. Harry had never figured out how that had come about. However, seeing the expression on his father's face, he didn't have much doubt as to what had spurred on that change.

"Hello, you must be Harry and Ana's father. My name's Bill, pleased to meet you." Harry watched as his father's expression turned more curious than murderous, and was intrigued himself. Somehow, his father was managing to ignore the fact that Harry was sitting on a couch, shirtless, with an equally shirtless boy sitting beside him. Harry was relieved that he didn't have his father yelling at him at the moment.

"Bill, you say? I have heard some interesting things about you from my daughter." His eyes narrowed. "However, that is not the issue at the moment. Harry, have you seen your sister recently?"

Harry started, and frowned, trying to think if he had seen his sister in the past week. Last time he could remember hearing from her had been on Sunday. It was now Wednesday evening. He had barely seen her around, and hadn't seen her in the Great Hall at meals. Now that he thought about it, it was like she had suddenly disappeared into thin air.

"Have you heard from her, then?" Harry watched as his father nodded in answer to his question.

"Her letters were about twice as long as usual for a few days, and then they were barely two sentences. I need you to find her, and try to figure out what is happening with her. Her letters suggest that she might be having trouble with her wolf. There's another issue that she expressed a concern for in her letters. What have you been up to? She was worried about you. And if whatever you're doing has her worried, it will have others bothered as well."

Harry shifted uncomfortably, and looked to Bill for help, but the dark haired boy was staring off into the distance, ignoring him and being of no help at all. Sighing he turned back to his father.

"I've been trying to get the attention of the person I have a crush on, and he's been pissing me off. Bill's helping me with it. I didn't know that it was bothering her."

"Well, you should go and find her, and make things better. If everything isn't better by your game this Saturday, then I will be arriving to make sure that this resolves myself. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, swallowing hard. Just what he needed, his father to come and mess with his whole life.

"Don't worry, I'll find her. I'll go looking tonight, and figure out what's up with her."

"Thank you, Harry." And with that his father's head disappeared from the flames. Harry leaned his head back against the couch, and was slightly surprised when he felt Bill's hand on his chest, picking up the dragon necklace sitting there.

"Can you find her through this?" Harry opened his eyes slightly, looking at his friend lazily.

"No, but if she's wearing it, we can talk to her. I'll find her through it, and you can do that thing you did last time and talk to her as well." Bill nodded, and they concentrated, trying to find Ana through the link, but came up empty. Feeling nervous, Harry reached out mentally to Draco and Blaise.

"What is it Harry?" Draco asked, and Harry felt a grumble from Blaise along the lines of 'what do you want'.

"I can't find Ana, I don't think that she's wearing her necklace." He immediately felt the connection with the other two strengthen as they tried to find her along the link.

"Where do you think she is?" Blaise's voice was urgent. None of them had ever been disconnected from the group before, none of them had ever taken the necklaces off since Ana had given them the necklaces when they started at Hogwarts.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her at meals all week, ever since Sunday afternoon. What do you think could have happened?" Harry was nervous at this point, and he could feel Bill's nervousness as well.

"Crystal asked me if she was alright, because she's only been in classes lately, but I told her it was probably just girl stuff, and that she shouldn't worry about her so much, that she'd get over whatever it was." Draco was feeling guilty, everyone could sense that, and it wasn't helping them in the least.

"I'll go and ask Snape if she's been in his office recently, and I think that we should all try and keep an eye out for her." Harry's suggestion was greeted with affirmatives, and Draco volunteering to go and ask McGonagal, and Blaise volunteering to go and ask Professor Lupin. Those were the likeliest teachers she would have gone to. And so it was that ten minutes after his conversation with his father, that Harry and Bill were wearing shirts, and walking out of the Slytherin common room in search of their head of house.

It wasn't hard to find the man, his quarters were in the dungeons, after all, and almost immediately after they had knocked on the door, it was yanked open by their stern head of house, his eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"What is it that you want at this time?" He was obviously not pleased to see them.

"We were wondering if you had seen Ana recently? We haven't been seeing her around much." Harry was looking at his professor with beseeching eyes, and Snap gave a slight growl before answering them.

"I have also noticed her absence at meals. I merely assumed that she was studying. Perhaps it would be pertinent for you to search the places she usually stays around before you come to me. The Slytherin common room, perhaps?"

"She hasn't been in the common room, neither Blaise, Draco nor I have seen him around. Apparently she hasn't come in since Sunday. No one knows where she's been staying." Snape frowned at Harry's words, and nodded to him.

"Just a moment," and then he disappeared into his rooms, before quickly returning, and gesturing for them to walk through the hall towards the Entrance Hall. When they got there, Draco was already waiting, bouncing nervously. When he caught sight of them, he launched himself towards them, and came to a sudden stop just short of running into them.

"McGonagal says that besides when she shows up in class, she hasn't seen her all week. Where do you think she's gone, Harry?"

"Mr. Malfoy, I think that the fact that she seems to be showing up for class and doing her homework means that she has not gone far, and is most definitely not gone forever. If we are unable to find her this evening, we will inform the teachers that they are to hold her when they have her in their class tomorrow. Now, do any of you know where she spends most of her time?"

Harry, Draco and Bill all looked at each other.

"Well, there's always the Shrieking Shack…" Bill trailed off. Harry picked up his train of thought.

"She likes the common room and the library… Is there anywhere else?"

"Ummm…" Everyone turned to look at Draco, whose face was a little flushed.

"Well? Spit it out boy! What is it?" Draco winced at the sharp tone of Snape's voice and the glare he was receiving from Harry. Bill merely seemed curious.

"It's just that I heard her talking to Peeves, a bit after we got back from school, and I was wondering if maybe he might possibly know where she could be." Harry and Snape looked at him incredulously, while Bill looked curious. Still.

"Who's Peeves?"

"Only the most annoying creature on the planet." Snape growled as he began to walk away from them towards the stairs, and began to ascend.

"Where are you going?" Harry called, chasing after him, Bill and Draco close behind him.

"To go and find Peeves. If he does know where that girl is, then it will save us some time. And it will also allow me to ascertain how thoroughly engaged she is with the little pest."

--

It didn't take them very long to find Peeves, he was in the trophy room setting off dungbombs. He didn't notice that they were there until they were close enough to speak to him, all of them were grimacing in disgust at the smell.

"Peeves!" The poltergeist spun around in thee air to look at them.

"Oh! It's Sevvie Snapey! Bat of the dungeons! What can Peevesie drop on you? Oh! And the tower jumping emo and the Riddle and Dragon boys! Missing your girlie you is! Said you'd look she did! Said for Peevsie to tell you that the dragony was on her bed." All four men narrowed their eyes. Peeves continued to cackle and float around above their heads.

"Do you know where Miss Riddle is, Peeves?" Snape snarled a the character.

"Maybe," Harry found himself losing his patience, and was considering whether he would get into too much trouble if he hexed the little man into oblivion. However, Snape beat him to it. Suddenly, Peeves was tied up, and brought down so that he was on eye level with the Potions Professor.

"You will tell us where she is so that we can make certain that she is safe, and not missing. Now, where is she?" Peeves glared at the man, and stuck his tongue out.

"Peeveses wont tell, Tatty fun, Peeveses wont tell on his friend. Peeveses wont tell you that she isn't in the castle."

Everyone froze at his words. Peeves himself had frozen, and looked at them with wide eyes. Harry felt his stomach sink. This wasn't good. Snape set Peeves free, and they watched him zoom away. Harry could tell that everyone was just as shocked as he was, and then Snape was moving, walking out of the trophy room.

"Where are you going, sir?" Harry called, hurrying to catch up. Snape didn't turn as he answered.

"If she is indeed out of the castle, the Headmaster will know, and steps will be taken to ensure that she does not make it out of here again. It is against the rules for students to leave Hogwarts' grounds unless it is a Hogsmeade weekend."

"But sir, we don't even know if it's-" Harry was cut off as something moving fast raced out of a side passage and ran straight into him, knocking him to the ground. Looking down, he saw Ana, sitting on the ground against the stone wall, holding a hand to her head, and keeping her eyes closed.

"Miss Riddle! What are you doing?" Snape swooped down on them, looking every inch the bat that the Gryffindors compared him to. Ana looked up at him, then turned away, and looked at her hand before swearing, and reaching into her robes to pull out a handkerchief, and pressing it to her head again. Snape's eyes narrowed. "Miss Riddle, you have managed to worry your brother, and pull me out of my quarters after curfew, so you will answer my question."

Ana glared up at him.

"I don't care what you think. And I don't have to answer to you, you-" Bill stopped her from finishing her sentence and saying something that she would likely regret by stepping forward and kneeling next to her.

"What is wrong with your head?" his voice was calm, and he was gentle as he pulled her hand away from her head.

"When I ran into Harry, I knocked open the cut that I was coming to have Ms. P look at. Fuzzy said that it would be bad if it got infected, or was open for too long. Now it's bleeding again." She was fidgeting, and, allowed Bill to put the handkerchief against the wound again, and then help her stand up. Snape took a step forward, and reached towards the wound, but Bill shook his head.

"I should take her to Madam Pomferey, sir. I can stay in the Hospital Wing with her and make sure that she stays there until the morning. You don't need to go." Snape looked at him suspiciously, but Harry and Draco were quick to speak up.

"We'll stay with her as well. She's not getting out of our sight any time soon." Snape nodded.

"I shall accompany you to the Hospital Wing, and then leave you all there with Madame Pomferey." Ana glared at him, but didn't object as Bill led her to the Hospital Wing, Draco and Harry following close behind.

When they walked into the Hospital Wing, it was only a moment before Madame Pomferey was hurrying out of her office to usher Ana to a bed, and Snape went about lighting a few lamps where they were to light what they were doing. In this light, Harry say that his sister's clothes were stained with dirt, and that the blood from her forehead had dripped down her face to soak the top of her shirt, which was a white button down, and her black knee length skirt was covered in dirt as well, and had a rip in it, about three inches long. Harry frowned. He wanted to know where his sister had been. His attention was drawn back to what was happening as Madam Pomferey began tisking at the girl on the bed.

"Have you not been eating properly? And where did all of this dust and dirt come from? It looks as if you have been rolling around in the forest." Ana winced as Madame Pomferey jabbed her head with her wand, healing the wound. "Well, you'll be staying here for the evening, that's for certain."

"We were wondering if it would be possible for us to stay here with her tonight?" Harry spoke up, trying to get the motherly woman's attention. She turned to him, and pursed her lips.

"What does your head of House say to this?"

"I said that it would be fine, unless you objected to having them here." Madame Pomferey nodded at Snape, giving her consent.

"Very well. You may all take up beds in this part of the ward, but you, Miss Riddle," Madame Pomferey narrowed her eyes at the werewolf girl, "you will be taking a dreamless sleep potion, and then you will be explaining how you got this dirty once you wake up in the morning."

Ana groaned.

"Be lucky you aren't in any more trouble this evening, girl." Snape sneered at her before turning and sweeping out of the Hospital Wing. With him gone, Madame Pomferey went into her office to find the potion she wanted, and Harry and Draco took the opportunity to question Ana quickly.

"Why weren't you wearing your necklace?" Harry glared at her, hands on hips, and Ana shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at the three boys in front of her.

"I didn't think any of you were really concerned, all of you were doing things and busy, and then you and Blaise and Crystal were all acting funny. Draco was working like some Ravenclaw spirit had possessed him, and then I was hanging out with Fuzzy-"

"Who's Fuzzy?" Interrupted Draco, curious.

"He's a new friend, he-"

"Now, all of you, to your beds. Miss Riddle, take your potion, and go to sleep." Ana grimaced, and took the potion from Madame Pomferey, downing it in one gulp. She shifted, getting under the covers before her eyes closed and she was asleep. The three others took up beds, and watched as Madame Pomferey cleaned the dirt off of her with a quick _scourgify_, and then they were all sleeping as well.

--

Harry was woken up by the sound of the Hospital Wing doors being opened. He opened his eyes, sitting up and blinking tiredly, trying to remember where he was. Looking around, he saw that the Headmaster had come in, followed by Professor McGonagal and Snape. The Headmaster smiled at him, but moved past him to where Ana was still sleeping in her bed.

"Poppy, has she not woken up yet?" The Headmaster was standing over her, and reached out a hand to touch to her forehead, and smooth back the stray hairs there.

"No, she has not. I was thinking that she is simply exhausted, and now that her body has had the chance to stop, she is resting. None of my scans show that there is anything wrong with her." Harry heard that, and the urge to dash over to his sister's bed and make sure that she was alright was about as strong as the urge to make the old man move away from her sleeping form. A pang of guilt shot through him though as he remembered that he should have been taking care of her, and that this might not be happening if he had paid enough attention to what was going on around him.

"Very well, would you please contact us when she does wake up?" Dumbledore was sounding like his usual kind-hearted self, and it set Harry's nerves on end. He realized that he should be getting ready for class, and heading down to the Great Hall, but decided that he would wait until the Headmaster had left the Hospital Wing. He realized that Bill and Draco must have had the same idea, because they were both sitting up in their beds on either side of him, and watching the small group cautiously.

"Of course, Headmaster."

"Thank you, Poppy." Harry was relieved when the man finally left, and got out of his bed, and looked at Ana, still lying on her bed, and left the ward with his two friends behind him.

Outside in the Hall, Harry called for Blaise using the necklace, and only got a grumbled reply of acceptance that they had found Ana, and that she was okay before he shut himself off from them. Harry sighed, and felt Bill snake an arm around his waist. Things were not going well.

As they made their way down to the Great Hall, Harry put on his usual smile, and leaned into Bill's touch. He heard Draco snort, but ignored him in favor of walking proudly to the Slytherin table for breakfast. However, his peace didn't last long. Totchi and Kyo took seats across from Harry, and watched them intently. He felt Bill growl softly.

"What do you want?" Bill's voice was clipped, and Harry raised an eyebrow at the tone of voice, he hadn't heard that before. It sounded almost hostile.

"We were simply wondering if you had gotten your heads out of your butts and noticed what's been going on with Tatiana." Totchi said, and Harry felt his entire being quiver under the piercing gaze of the younger boy. Somehow the eyes seemed to see right through his flesh into his very soul, and it unnerved him. Sort of like his father when the man knew he had done something wrong. He too would just give him the piercing look, making him just wilt under those eyes until he confessed to whatever his crime was. This time was no different.

"The matter was brought to our attention by our father. He was the first to notice that her letters were odd." Harry paused, looking up into those cold eyes. "If you knew that something was wrong, why didn't you do anything?"

Totchi simply gave a slight smile, and Kyo gave him a blank look, before he took the initiative of responding.

"We decided it would be best for you to learn from your mistakes, instead of us bailing you out. I doubt that you will ignore your sister to this extreme again, will you?" Harry had to grudgingly admit that he was right. He felt Bill beside him growl again.

"And you believe that putting Ana in danger is acceptable? Is okay as long as Harry learns his lessons?" Bill was tense, and seething with anger, and Harry could feel it radiating off of his friend in waves. He placed a calming hand on his friend's arm.

"If you notice anything in the future, will you either do something about it, or let me know that you've noticed it? I would really appreciate it, I can't always be there to watch her." Totchi was giving him the piercing, soul-searching gaze.

"Very well. I will agree to that. If we notice that there is something wrong, that could prove harmful to her, then we will alert you, or take measures to make sure that nothing happens that could seriously harm her." Harry nodded in thanks, however then there was a commotion at the doors to the Great Hall, and Harry saw Ana being dragged past the doors by Professor Snape in the direction of the stairs.

He was up in a moment, and running toward the doors, past other students, shoving his way to the entrance until he was within hearing distance of the struggling duo.

"You, Ms. Riddle, were supposed to be in the Hospital Wing. Now, you will be returning there, and you will stay there until Madame Pomferey declares that you are well enough to be out and about." Snape was snarling, and had a firm grip on her left bicep, and was starting to drag her up the stairs.

"No, I won't stay in the blasted Infirmary. You can't make me, you greasy git!" She shrieked at him, struggling and trying to break his grasp.

"Ana! What are you doing out of the Hospital Wing? You're supposed to be resting!" Ana stared at him for a moment, as if not believing her eyes, before she just stopped struggling, and actually drew closer to Snape, and started following him up the stairs. Snape looked at her puzzled for a moment, before shrugging and following her up the stairs. Harry felt like a knife had been thrust into his gut. They had been doing all right last night, hadn't they? And now she was acting like-

"Hey." Bill came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist in an offer of comfort. "Everything will be fine once we get this all figured out." Harry nodded, and allowed Bill to guide him up the stairs, barely seeing where he was going until they got to the Infirmary. The Headmaster was already there, standing next to the bed that Ana was sitting on. Nothing had been said yet though, because as they came in, the old man cast them a small look before concentrating on Tatiana, sitting before him, her eyes on the floor.

"Now, Ms. Riddle, I would like you to tell us what you have been doing for the past several days."

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Summer time… Please forgive the long period of no updates at this point. That is, I finished reading the five summer reading books I had, with a lot of effort. Have you ever seen the Aeneid in its full translation? It's huge! Long! Vergil was cruel…And Ovid made dirty jokes…

Chapter 9

Harry watched as Madame Pomferey pocked and prodded his little sister, Bill at his side. They had come all the way to the infirmary with Snape and Ana, without the girl acknowledging their presence behind her except shooting furtive glances at them every few minutes.

Now, Harry was waiting for Madame Pomferey to clear her so that he could ask her what all of this was about. However, Snape beat him to it.

"What were you doing when you snuck out of the Hospital Wing this morning, Miss Riddle?" The potions master was glaring at her, his dark eyes narrowed, and his arms folded across his chest. Ana shifted uneasily on the bed as all four people looked at her intently.

"Yes, you were not cleared to leave. You were supposed to wait so that the Headmaster could decide what the punishment should be for you wandering around the grounds at night." Madame Pomferey was glaring at her. No patient of hers had snuck away and gotten off easy. And Ana had started to get into the habit of sneaking out.

"I didn't want to be interrogated, like all of you were intending to do, so I just snuck out. I didn't think that anyone would really care that much."

"Not care?" Harry exclaimed, "you came into the castle in the middle of the night with a bleeding cut on your forehead, and you think that we wouldn't care?"

"He makes a valid point, Tatiana." Bill was looking at her from under his bangs, his face solemn. "We may have not been the most observant lately, but we do care." Ana looked at them, and lowered her eyes.

"I figured that you wouldn't care what happened to me, all of you have been doing stuff. I just started visiting Fuzzy, trying to ignore the fact that it hurt, to not understand what was happening-"

"Fuzzy?" Snape raised an eyebrow, and gave her a look that would have had a Hufflepuff sobbing and telling him their deepest secrets. Ana just looked back at him calmly. Her father had given her that look before, but his was much scarier, in her opinion.

"Yes, Fuzzy." Snape gritted his teeth at her answer.

"Who is Fuzzy?"

"Fuzzy is Fuzzy." Now the potions master had a vein twitching in the right side of his jaw, and Harry was fairly certain that he was going to explode soon if something didn't happen to change the way this conversation was going.

"Ana, that doesn't help the situation." Harry said sternly, a frown on his face. Ana glared at him.

"Well, Fuzzy the dog does not want to be identified. He hasn't done anything but listen to my problems. He's nice. I bring him food, and he listens."

"You do know his real name, don't you?" Snape was glaring at her, and Harry had the thought that the man might be trying to see into her mind. Too bad they were both taught Occlumency by their father.

"Of course I do. I'm just not telling." Ana smiled at them. Snape growled.

"Very well. You will be having detentions with me for the next week. I hope that you like cleaning cauldrons."

Ana groaned.

"Professor, am I allowed to see the game against Slytherin on Saturday?" She looked up at him, and made her eyes big, sticking out her lower lip slightly. She was giving him her best puppy eyes, and Harry and Bill could see their fierce Head of House crumbling under her pleading gaze.

"Very well. But you sill be having detentions with me until next Friday."

She grinned, and jumped off the bed.

"Thanks, Professor Snape!" He sneered at her.

"Don't thank me, brat. This is as much a punishment for me as it is for you. Now go, your brother over there is almost jumping with the urge to talk to you." With that, Snape strode out of the Hospital Wing, his robes billowing behind him in some invisible wind. Ana stood where she had landed, and looked at Harry warily.

"I don't suppose that you will let me off easily for sneaking out, eh?" She gave a small, tentative smile, to which Harry scowled. Ana drooped. "Perhaps we could at least talk about this somewhere more private?" She looked at them hopefully.

"Common Room. Now." Ana nodded and walked foreward, to stand next to Bill, who she looked at hopefully. The boy raised an eyebrow. Ana seemed to take this as forgiveness, and gave him a quick hug before dancing ahead of them, out of the room. Harry could feel his irritation, stemmed from worry growing as he watched her retreating form.

"Well, come on." She called back at them.

Some silent minutes later, they all arrived in the Slytherin Common room, and took some chairs in one of the corners, so that they would not be overheard.

"So, where have you been? Father's been worried." Harry was acting the interrogator, and Ana sighed, looking at Bill, and then back at her brother.

"Well, I met this dog at the dance. And I told him a good place to hide. Then, when you guys all started getting wrapped up in each other, I still have no idea what you're all doing, but I don't care anymore. Anyway, I started sneaking out to visit him, and bring him food. He's not really a dog, he's an illegal animagus. I also took a few outfits from your trunk, The really ratty ones that you don't care about much anymore. He only had his Azkaban robes-"

"_Azkaban robes?!?!_" Harry was gaping at her in disbelief.

"What? Of course. He did escape from there. So, anyways, he only had these horrible thin Azkaban robes, so I brought him a bunch of food, some of your clothes, and some extra blankets. I also gave him a bit of money, a mirror, and the stuff he needs to shave and cut his hair so that he's semi clean and presentable. But anyways, he's been listening to me, and letting me rant, and acting as a sort of uncle person. He at least doesn't advocate hunting as a form of stress relief like Fen." She shivered. "So, I invited him to the house for over winter break, he can be a dog, and stay with us, and all that. He can pretend to be a pet when other people are around."

"You want to bring home an escaped convict? To our house where we already have one dubiously free werewolf? And keep said convict as a _pet_?" Harry was staring at her with wide eyes. "You are crazy. But," he waved his hand in the air, in a helpless gesture, "what can I do? You can bring it up with Father when he comes to the game on Saturday."

"Yay! Ana threw herself forward, and hugged him, before settling herself more securely in her brother's lap, snuggling. "Missed you."

"Missed you too." Harry pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, feeling content.

"Hey, Bill?"

"Yes?" Bill looked at her from the chair next to them suspiciously.

"Want to help me dye my hair?"

--

That night found Harry grumbling to himself as he stood guard outside of the Slytherin boy's bathroom as Bill and his sister laughed and giggled inside, mingled with the sound of splashing water. Harry was finding it very difficult to contain his anxiety about leaving his little sister alone with a friend who he had only known for a week. Harry pulled out his parchment, and began scribbling out his Charms essay, trying to not wonder what exactly Ana was doing with her hair.

Tatiana had won the fight about dying her hair when she had presented the argument that she could always just use a glamour to cover it until it grew out if everyone hated it. Now Harry had to wonder why he had thought that that small concession would make any difference in what was happening. The girl was too stubborn for her own good.

He looked up when he heard Draco's voice.

"What are you doing outside the boy's bathroom, Harry?"

"Guarding the bathroom door so that no one goes in while Bill is dying Ana's hair." Harry briefly wondered how that statement sounded before turning his attention back to Draco.

"You've only known the guy for a little but, are you sure that you trust him with your sister?" Draco was looking at Harry like he was slightly crazy for trusting an unknown male around the younger girl.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that he wont try anything." Harry smiled.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm pretty sure that his hormones don't swing that way. And anyways, if he did try anything, Fen would smash him like a cookie." Harry grinned.

"You just went from strange to institutional."

"Hey, what can I say? Fen is protective."

They both turned around when they heard the door open, and say Bill sticking his head out, hair pulled back from his face.

"Do you particularly care what color your sister's hair is?"

"No…"

"Well, that's good. Hey, Ana! He says it's good…" Bill's voice faded away as the door shut behind him, and Harry frowned.

"I suddenly feel a sensation of dread overcome me." Harry looked off into space, imagining bright pink hair.

"We're talking about Ana? How bad could it be?" Draco was scrounging for some reason why they should be reassured.

"Bad."

Half an hour later, there was the sound of running water, and then a shriek. Draco and Harry both stared at the door intently. When the water turned off, there was another shriek, and then they heard Ana's voice drift through the door faintly.

"That was painful…pulling…hair…" Harry was considering opening the door when the door opened, and Bill stood there grinning.

"I now present to you, the new and improved…Tatiana." Bill stepped to the side, revealing Ana standing there, her hair falling down past her shoulders, stopping at approximately The top layer was slightly shorter than the bottom layer, letting the Gryffindor red hair peek through when she moved her head.

"What do you think?" Ana smiled at them shyly.

ey

"It's nice, a new look." Draco smiled at her, and stepped forward to touch her hair, and play with it a bit. Until he noticed Bill's glare, that is.

"It's red." Said Harry, trying to come to terms with the fact that his little sister was going to be going around Slytherin house with red hair. "Why not green? Or blue?"

"Because blue fades to gray, and green fades to weird shades or green and blue." Said Bill, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Yeah, but-" Harry was interrupted by Draco.

"Aren't you the one always promoting house unity?"

"Why are you taking her side?" Harry glared at Draco, hands on his hips.

"Because I don't have to deal with your father when you get home and your father sees what Ana did to her hair." Draco shrugged. "Nice effect, the black over the red, by the way, Ana."

"Thanks." Ana smiled brightly at him, and Draco nodded. Harry's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he noticed a faint pink color on Draco's cheeks.

"Hey Draco, how about you and I go and study for that Charms test tomorrow?" Harry asked, smiling in a falsely sweet manner.

"Oh, if the two off you have a test, you should go study, Bill and I can clean up on our own. We were thinking of heading up to Gryffindor tower after this, anyways." Ana smiled at them.

"But, I thought it was next – "

"Well, you thought wrong. Come on." Harry grabbed Draco's arm, and dragged him up, past the common room, and into their dorms. When they got there, Harry whirled around and glared at his friend with every ounce of menace that being the son and heir of a Dark Lord had given him. "What are your exact feelings towards my sister?"

"What?" Draco's eyes widened. "I don't – I mean, I really don't know what-"

"You know very well what I mean, Draco Lucius Malfoy. Now, tell me how you feel about her or find yourself missing a body part that is imperative to reproduction."

Draco gulped, paling at his friend's threat.

"Y-you wouldn't."

"This is my sister. There is nothing I wouldn't do. Now, tell me."

"Well, I think that I like her. I've had this strange feeling around her for years. But, only in the past few years have I been able to identify these feelings as a crush. Possibly more." Draco paused. "You're not going to set your Dad on me, are you?"

Harry looked closely at his best friend, contemplating what he should say.

"No, I wont. But it _is_ up to you to tell our father your intentions when you decide to act on your feelings."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, thank Merlin." Draco allowed his shoulders to droop slightly. "I was afraid you were going to hurt me or something."

"Oh, not yet. But if you hurt her in any way, you'll find some very upset very dangerous characters coming after you." Harry smiled brightly, and headed back to the door. "I'm going to go down and hang out with Nott. Bye!"

Drao stared at the shut door, and gulped. He was not looking forward to the Quidditch match on Saturday that Mr. Riddle would be attending.

--

Harry walked out onto the fiel smirking up at the stands. He could see his and Draco's fathers sitting in the teacher's box with Albus Dumbledore. Harry looked around for a moment, and finally spotted Ana in the Gryffindor stands, sitting with Bill on her right, and Toshimasu on her left. On Bill's far side sat Tom, and on Totchi's sat Kyo. Behind them sat Blaise and Crystal, watching Ana with bemused smiles on their faces. The rest of the Gryffindors in the area were also looking at her as if they had never seen her before. And, if one didn't know that she was perfectly sane, one might start pairing her with Luna Lovegood.

Ana had dressed herself that morning in a green cotton dress that fell just past her knees, with a silver sash tied around her hips. She also had put on silver and green striped tights, and black calf high leather boots that had a slight heel to them. Her hair had been pulled into a high ponytail, her hair highlighted with red. And the main source of everyone's discomfort was the green and red sparks that hovered in the air above them. The sparks formed the words 'Go Slytherin! Go Gryffindor! PLAY FAIR!'. Harry shook his head.

"Your sister is wearing green in the center of Gryffindor territory…" Harry chuckled at Draco's comment.

"Only she could get away with this."

Now, at the center of the field, Harry stepped forward as the team captain, and held out his hand to shake Ron Weasley's hand as his fellow captain. Harry grinned at Ron's rueful grin as he stared at the sparks. Ron shook his head, grinning at him.

"I can see your sister over there with the Gryffindors. She's apparently trying really hard to stay neutral in all of this, isn't she?" Harry nodded at him.

"Yeah. Good game, make sure to miss a few hoops for us." Harry grinned at the keeper/captain. Ron's grin got wider.

"Make sure to give our little Ginny a head start when you go for the snitch, yes?"

"But of course." They were pulled apart by Madame Hooch, blowing her whistle.

"Mount your brooms!" They all took their positions, and Harry winked at Ginny. The girl smirked back, and mouthed 'we will win' at him, and he mouthed back 'I don't think so'.

"One my whistle! Three! Two! One!" Her whistle blasted through the air, and the brooms shot into the air. Immediately Harry and Ginny began to circle the pitch, looking for any trace of the golden snitch, while at the same time keeping a close eye on the other, in case they should spot the snitch before them.

--

Marcus Riddle sat with Lucius Malfoy on his left, and Dumbledore on his right. The old man kept distracting him, and drawing his attention away from the game. He watched as Draco passed the quaffle off, and then gasped as a bludger almost hit him before he dodged him. He kept one of his eyes on his son, flying around in the sky, and letting his eyes drift to where his daughter was sitting in the Gryffindor stands. He was trying to ignore how Dumbledore was trying to talk to him, mentioning how he was worried that Tatiana had been depressed lately, and that they had suspicions that she had been making her way off of the grounds when she shouldn't. If the man didn't shut up soon, he was going to have to kill someone. Or at least spend a therapeutic hour binging on ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies. Neither one was good.

"So, I hope that you will be giving your daughter a nice, family oriented vacation. She has been doing better since she talked with her brother on Thursday, but still…" Marucs tuned him out as he watched Gregory Goyle send a bludger away from one of the Slytherin chasers, and straight at Ronald Weasley. The Gryffindor beaters made a mad dash at Ron, who was blocking he quaffle, and managed to bat the bludger away just before it hit Ron. He watched as the bludger went wide and started to sail towards the stands. Students were watching with wide eyes as the ball sailed towards them. The Hufflepuffs were starting to scream as it came towards them, but were saved by Vincent Crabbe, who sent the ball away and back into the game with a fierce swing of his bat.

"I've noticed that there seems to be a rift between your son and some of his friends, perhaps-" Marcus had had enough. He rounded on the old man, and tried to make his smile friendly, but was sure that it was a bit more of a snarl.

"What my son does is up to him. I am sure that I am qualified enough to notice when there is something going on with my son. There is nothing that you should worry yourself about. I am aware that my son and his friends are having a disagreement at the moment, then it is what caused the brief rift between him and Ana. If she is now talking to him, I will assume that everything is fine at the moment. I know them well enough to know, that now that Harry has realized what his behavior did to Ana, he will be very conscious of how she is, and what she is doing. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to ask you to-" The crowd began shouting, and Marcus tore his eyes from Dumbledore, and watched Harry and Ginny both diving straight towards the ground, weaving in between the other players.

--

Harry could feel the wind rushing past him as he pushed his broom to take him faster and faster towards the ground. Ginny was next to him, and he put on a last burst of speed. He couldn't hear the cheers and shouts, all he was focused on was the golden ball flying two inches above the ground. Ginny pulled up, and Harry grinned. At the very last moment he pulled his broom up, and pulled his feet up so that he could stand on it slightly. He kept up his speed as he soured above the ground, his broom grazing the grass. With a lunge, he threw himself off of his broom, snatching the small snitch in his hands before Ginny had had the time to circle around and catch it as it rose higher in the air.

The ground was hard as he landed on it, and he felt all of the air leave his lungs at the impact. He rolled for a ways before coming to a stop, and held the little ball above his head for the whole school to see. The cheering was deafening.

--

Marcus had clutched at Lucius' hand tightly when Harry had lunged off his broom, and now he felt like he had just lost several years off of his life.

"I knew there was a reason I never came to these things." He growled as he stood up with the rest of the staff, so that they could make their way down to the field. Lucius chuckled behind him.

"Indeed. I believe that I have become used to bludgers being aimed at my son over the years that I have watched their games."

"I'm just glad that Ana isn't on that team."

"Oh, but she is, Marcus. She's the backup seeker, if anything were to happen to Harry she would be the one playing. She also lets the beaters practice their aim, by flying around and having them beat the bludgers at her. It apparently helps the other players practice avoiding bludgers, and another seeker, so that they can focus on the game, and not dodging." Marcus growled quietly.

"Well, I'll just have to bring that up, wont I?"

"I don't think that you can stop that girl from doing anything that she sets her mind to." Lucius was chuckling, and so Marcus threw a glare over his shoulder at his friend.

"Which is all the more reason to make sure that she never puts herself in danger. She has a ridiculous brave trait in her, which when it rears its ugly head could rival any proud Gryffindor's." Lucius was now laughing at him openly, and Marcus had to glare at anyone who stopped to look at them like they were three headed walruses.

"Shall we head onto the field, now, or shall we wait for you to catch your breath?" sneered Marcus at his friend.

"Oh, by all means, let us continue onwards to meet with our victorious sons." Lucius managed to rein his expression in to a smirk, and they strode towards the field, and were halfway through the crowd to congratulate their sons when they saw something over the crowd of teenagers that made their jaws drop.

--

Harry was almost immediately surrounded by his cheering teammates. Even Ronald Weasley came up to them and shook his hand, congratulating him on a good game. Harry was having a great time, he was grinning like a fool, and shouting with his team mates. And then Bill came up to them, and he grinned at him. They both moved forward at the same time, and wrapped their arms around each other, hugging tightly. Although they had originally been trying to get the attention of the ones they liked, they had realized that they actually liked each other. They still had crushes on other people, but they were willing to figure out how things worked between the two of them, a kind of safe ground.

And so, neither one was really surprised when they pressed their lips together in a tight kiss.

--

Marcus felt his jaw drop, as cat calls and wolf whistles broke out among the crowd, and he saw one Ravenclaw girl actually droop with disappointment at the new discovery about the Slytherin team captain and the exchange student. He actually heard someone give a whoop of victory behind him, and turned around to see Seamus Finnegan holding out a hand to two other Gryffindor boys.

"Pay up Neville, Dean. I told you he was gay!" Seamus grinned widely as he was given a galleon by each boy.

Marcus turned back to his son, and narrowed his eyes, simply waiting for his son to realize that he was there.

--

Harry felt like there was someone glaring a hole in his forehead, and so he opened his eyes, and pulled Back from Bill, to look around, and found his father staring at him intently. The man raised an eyebrow, and jerked his head in the direction of the changing rooms. He didn't think his father would mind him being gay, but then again, you never really knew….

He nodded at his father, and started to fight his way out of the crowd, pulling Bill along with him.

Behind the changing room, he found his father standing tall and intimidating.

"Harry, could you and I talk privately for a moment?"

Harry nodded, and stepped forward, away from Bill so that his father could cast a privacy ward, so that the two of them could talk without being overhead.

"So, how long have you known that you like men?" Marcus asked, still frowning.

"A couple of years, maybe. I started noticing it around fourth year." Harry shifted nervously in his place.

"Why haven't you told me?"

"I wasn't sure how you would react. Some people don't like to find out that their only son is gay." Harry was looking down, preparing himself to be ridiculed. However, what he wasn't ready for, was his father suddenly wrapping him in a warm hug.

"Well, although I am sad that you don't think I would love you no matter what, I am happy that you have at least figured out who you like, and that you've finally told me. Remember, I will always love you, no matter if you like boys, girls, both, or even if you are in love with an Azkaban escapee. Now, how about you introduce me to this young man you seem so close to." Marcus smiled at Harry and dropped the ward. Harry was shocked for a moment, but then he grinned, and waved Bill over.

"Okay. Dad, this is Bill. Bill, this is my Dad."

"Nice to meet you, sir." Bill stuck out his hand, and grasped Marcus' firmly in his own.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Bill."

--

Marcus sat in the Slytherin Common Room, watching as his daughter fidgeted on the chair she was sitting on, waiting for her to begin talking. Harry was sitting on her other side, and looked just as nervous, although he was managing to sit still.

"Um, so…I was wondering…" She paused, and took a deep breath. "CanIbringhomeaguythatImetandlethimlivewithussothathedoesn'tgetsentbacktoAzkaban?" Somehow she managed to say that all in one breath, causing Marcus to raise an eyebrow.

"Again, slower."

"Can I bring home a guy that I met and let him live with us so that he doesn't get sent back to Azkaban?" Ana was biting her lip, and giving him a pleading look.

"What do you have to say, Harry?" asked Marcus, smiling slightly.

"I'm staying out of this conversation." Harry smiled vaguely.

"Please Daddy? He's really nice. I promise that Fuzzy wont be any trouble. He's an illegal animagus, so no one knows that he can turn into a dog." Ana clasped her hands together, and made her eyes wider. "Please?"

Marcus sighed.

"Fine."

"Yes!"

"But I want to meet him. Can you tell me where he is right now?" Marcus was doing his best to remain firm on this. He already had Fenrir Greyback living with them under an alias, what was one more convict?

"No, but I can show you." Ana smiled.

"When?"

"Now. Come on." She stood up, and grabbed his hand, tugging him along after her. Harry waved at them and called that he would see them later.

Marcus followed her, raising an eyebrow as she opened a secret passageway that was in a witch's hump, and then felt almost intrigued as she led him up through the cellar of Honeydukes, and then out of Hogsmeade, through some alleys, and out of town, slipping into a store and grabbing a bag of fruit before heading into the hillside. Marcus was starting to get annoyed. Why did this place have to be so far out of the way? And then he saw a small crevice in the side of a hill, hidden by some bushes. She pressed a finger to her lips, and gestured for him to wait there.

She scrambled down the hillside, and sang out as she went.

"Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy wuzzy wasn't fuzzy was he?" Marcus rolled his eyes, and watched as the bush was pushed out of the way as a man in a black cloak, and what he could have sworn was one of his son's pair of trousers, and one of his daughter's thick pink sweaters that the lady down the street insisted that all girls liked. He had shaggy black hair, and was looking a little gaunt around the face, although he was clean-shaven. Although he thought that he recognized the Slytherin scarf with a blue, embroidered snowflake on the end as the scarf Tatiana had said had disappeared at the beginning of the school year. His eyes narrowed as the man swept her up into a jug, swinging her around in the air for a moment, before putting her back on the ground.

"It's been a while, Tati. I was afraid that you had hurt yourself sneaking out of here last time." He grinned at her. "So, what's up this time? Your brother still being a-" his eyes traveled up, and lit upon where Marcus was standing, and then pushed her behind him slightly, and narrowed his eyes at him. "Who are you?"

"That's what I was about to ask you." Marcus glared at the man.

"Hey, don't worry, Fuzzy, this is my Dad. I asked him if we could take you home, and he said that he wanted to meet you first, so I brought him here." Tatiana smiled up at the man, and then waved Marcus over. "How about we all sit down? I grabbed some apples, and I think I have some chocolate frogs somewhere…"

All three of them sat down, 'Fuzzy' looking at Marcus suspiciously, as Ana dug through her pockets, eventually pulling out two slightly mashed up chocolate frogs. Marcus wrinkled his nose when she offered one to him.

"No thanks, I ate with Lucius before I came."

Fuzzy almost choked on the chocolate.

"Lucius Malfoy?"

"Yeah, I told you, Draco and I are in the same house. We've been friends forever. Lucius and Narcissa are great, they're the best." Ana grinned, and bit off the head of her frog.

"And if I remember correctly, Lucius was named 'Luci', until you were eight." Marcus smirked.

"Well, he deserved it." Ana turned slightly red.

"And you decided that every time we were there, you were going to play with his hair."

"It's pretty, and the perfect length for learning to French braid."

"Perhaps we should focus, and not corrupt my mind with images of the head of the Malfoy family getting his hair braided." Fuzzy grinned.

"And his nails painted."

Fuzzy laughed.

"So, what's your name, anyways?" asked Marcus, looking at the other man curiously.

"Sirius Black." Sirius watched as Marcus' face turned thoughtful.

"Okay."

"Okay what?" asked Ana.

"He can stay with us."

"Really?"

"Really."

"What made you change your mind?"

"I guess I just like him."

"You don't like anyone, except for Pops."

"Ah, but he also has to put up with you, so we've bonded already."

"Bonded?"

"In a manly, fatherly way."

"Ah."

"So, how are we getting your mutt home?"

"Hey, I'm not a mutt!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Well, I could always put him in my trunk…" Ana tilted her head to the side.

"That should work."

"Hey Dad, when's the next full moon?"

"Two weeks."

"Okay."

"Why?"

"No reason."

"Why do you want to know about the full moon?" asked Sirius.

"I'm a werewolf." Ana watched him for a reaction. But he just shrugged.

"I had a friend in school who was a werewolf. If you want, I can come and stay with you, my friends and I did it all the time."

"Sure, there are some others who will be there too, and I shouldn't be vicious. Two of my friends will be there for security, to see if I can be around normal people. It could be interesting."

"Sounds good. Shrieking shack?"

"Show up after sunset. We get there an hour before to prepare. Preparing for me involves stripping, so show up late. Otherwise it could be awkward."

"Okay."

"Tatiana Riddle."

"Yes Dad?"

"You just…never mind." Marcus scowled at the sun, which was starting to sink towards the hills. "We should go."

"Alright. Keep the fruit, Fuzzy."

"Get rid of that horrid nickname."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"How old are you two?" cried Marcus. "Time to go. Nice meeting you, see you at winter break."

"Bye Fuzzy!"

"Graaaaagggghhhh!"

Ana left, giggling.

"Oh yes, and we still have to adress the color you dyed your hair."

"Oh, come on Dad!"

"It's red."

"So?"


End file.
